The Towns of the Remembered
by Emersonian
Summary: Emma meets two women running a Mexican restaurant in Storybrooke who seek their missing husbands. Fidget steals a medal from Gold's shop. Rosetta finds a mystical book in her bedroom. In the past, Snow White ends up in San Angel where she helps Manolo, a guitarist son of a bullfighter, win the heart of the love of his life.
1. Snow In San Angel

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 1: Snow in San Angel

Flashback: _A Mexican desert, long before the Dark Curse, during Regina's reign_

Under the hot desert sun, a rider galloped through the endless wasteland full of sand and cactuses. The rider had been galloping day and night in the hopes of evading the wrath of the Evil Queen Regina. Unfortunately for the rider, the food and water rations were getting lower and lower per day and unless a town was to be found, then death would fall upon the rider and her horse.

Snow White cursed under her teeth: she should have thought better before running off in a hot desert like this burning inferno, but what could she do? Regina's men have been chasing her for days and were reluctant enough to go after her when she left the kingdom and entered the desert. Despite the tiredness and lack of food, Snow kept going.

Finally, she saw it. She saw what appeared to be a small town rising above the center of a lake. _Finally_ , she thought. _A town! Hopefully I'll get something to eat and a place to sleep!_

Snow got closer to the town, which revealed to be a hill full of houses and for a crown a large church. A small wooden bridge connected the town from the mainland. Before she could cross it, Snow heard the sound of music in the air.

She stopped to listen to it: the musical cords were played quickly but in a soft and emotional way. The music was very beautiful.

It came from a tree that stood on the mainland and a few feet away from the bridge. Snow got off her horse and got closer to the tree, seeing a young man in his early twenties, dressed in a black outfit with golden skulls and red hearts motifs that she'd never seen before. His skin was golden and his brown hair had a curl going upward in a circular motion. His back was lying against the tree trunk as he played a cord instrument that seemed like a large lute to Snow.

"Um…excuse me?" Snow hesitated, not wanting to interrupt the musician. He stopped and saw her in the tired and hungry condition she was in.

" _Dios mío_!" he exclaimed. He grabbed a bottle from his suit and gave it to Snow. "Drink this, _señora_. You could use for some water. You look like you haven't slept for days!"

"Thank you." Snow grabbed the bottle and instantly drank from it before giving some to her horse.

"Have you been riding all by yourself in the desert?"

"Yes."

"You should be careful. The desert here is home to bandits led by the evil bandit king named Chakal. Our town along with others is at his mercy."

Snow wiped off the water from her mouth as she gave the young man. "I didn't know. I've been riding days and nights in the hope of finding a place to stay temporarily…"

"Then perhaps you could go back to town with me. I'm sure my family won't mind sheltering a traveler for a few days," the young man smiled.

"Really? Thank you so much!" the two shook hands. "I'm Snow White, by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, Señora Snow White. My name is Manolo Sanchez. Welcome to San Angel."


	2. Catalogs, Books, and Illustrations

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 2: Catalogs, books, and illustrations

 _In the Blanchard Apartment_

It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon in the Blanchard apartment. With Emma and David off working at the Sheriff's Station, Mary Margaret was cuddling her son Neal in her arms while Henry was sitting in the couch, flipping through papers and using a pen to mark on them. The fact that Henry wasn't flipping through his comic books or his cherished book ONCE UPON A TIME as he usually did when he wasn't at school caught Mary Margaret's attention.

"Hey, Henry," she asked gently. "What are you looking at?"

"Restaurant catalogs." He barely looked away from the papers. "Mom wants to on a date with Killian somewhere else than Granny's or that restaurant she went to on their first date. I volunteered to help her find a good place."

"That's very thoughtful of you," his grandmother smiled as she sat next to him on the couch. "So what did you find?"

Henry showed her the circled catalogs that he had currently. "So far I found five interesting. The first one is a seafood restaurant near the beach called _The Palace Of The Pesce_."

Mary Margaret took a quick glance at the catalog. " _Airy seafood restaurant featuring daily market-fresh chalkboard specials & a marble bar in the back_," she read out loud. "That might be a good idea, since Killian is a pirate and all."

Henry nodded. "The second one is called _Barbeque Wa Simba_ , a barbecue place in Main Street."

" _Serves barbecue with heat as powerful as a lion. Recommended on a scale from one to ten with an eight-and-a-half_. It does go well with Emma's fiery temper."

"The third one is the _Dutchman's Teapot_ , a bistro with an all-you-can-eat buffet that specializes in tea."

" _With our special tea and special food that you can pick, your day will be full of sunshine_. _Take our special happy hour meals every Saturdays with less than 50% of the price_. I should remember that one."

"The fourth one is a bistro that specializes in French cuisine. It's called _Nourriture Centrale_."

" _Offers riffs of tradition running from New American to French food. Rated with five stars out of six_. If that restaurant has more than five stars, than it must be very good."

"The last one is a Mexican restaurant called _La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_."

" _A warm environment full of traditional Mexican food, fiestas, and karaoke where everyone has a great time_. _Recommended on a scale form one to ten with a picante ten_. All these restaurants sound good. I'm sure Emma will like the options."

"Thanks." Henry got up and grabbed the catalogs. "I'm gonna go show these to Mom right away and see what she thinks."

"OK."

Mary Margaret watched as her grandson went up to his room to get his bag. Cuddling her baby, she thought. _La Muerte? Why does it sound familiar?_

 _Rosetta's bedroom in the mansion of the Romanovs_

Rosetta went through her stuff impatiently. It had been more than ten minutes since her parents left for work, leaving her home alone with Anubis's jackal sons guarding the perimeter of the house, and five minutes since she realized that the book she needed for her homework book report was missing. She groaned as she went through her bookshelves and scavenged through the sections where she kept her storybooks, classic novels, encyclopedias, and sketchbooks in which she drew the visions she had whenever they reached her head.

"For Thoth's sake, where on Earth did I put it?" she exclaimed, knowing that her father specifically told her to never cuss using one of the Egyptian gods' names. _'It would be the same as hearing some swear in the name of your mother. Don't you think you'd feel like you and your entire family were insulted?'_ Somehow, her cuss might have been herd, since a heavy thud came from underneath her bed.

Surprised by the sudden sound, Rosetta carefully crawled on all fours and looked under her bed. There, in the dusty little place where Rosetta's old shoes and forgotten sketches lived laid a giant book. The little seer used her two hands to pull out the book, which was even heavier than Ared, her father's eldest jackal son that weighed over 160 pounds and could only be lifted by the god himself.

After she struggled to put the book on her bed, Rosetta swiped the dust off the book's cover. The sight of the cover was dazzling: there were golden patterns that went in swirls at the corners. Two golden hands were reaching out to a crimson heard with flames on top. Rosetta had never seen such a book before and she had no vision of what it was.

Forgetting her book report, she lay on her bed and began opening the mysterious book.

 _In Fidget's cave somewhere in the forest_

In the darkness of the cave that called home, the sound of dripping water and shuffling papers were herd.

Fidget the peg-legged Batrishan sat on the floor in his homely corner with a wooden chest at his side. He dug out the chest out of the ground a few minutes ago and when he saw that it was full of scrolls and papers (both current and ancient), he took it back to his cave and began looking at the contents of the papers. Perhaps one of them would give him a hint of how to defeat the codfish once and for all.

Through the masses of poetic stories, witch recipes, and catalogs of everything in Storybrooke, he found a very interesting illustration. It represented a rather odd medal, with green-winged skull within a black heart surrounded by electrocuting grey flames. Tailing the heart was a ripped ribbon of dark and light green stripes and crowning the heart were glowing green flames.

"Interesting," Fidget muttered. "Why would there be such a thing as an eerie medal like this one." He stopped when he saw handwriting next to the illustration and grinned at the context:

 _Xibalba's Medal Of Everlasting Life. Said to make the wearer invincible and protected from any injury, thus preventing harm and death. Its last wearers were the bandit king Chakal and San Angel's greatest heroes, Joaquín Menndragon and Manolo Sanchez. Rumor has it that the Dark One Rumplestiltskin keeps it in his pawnshop in Storybrooke."_


	3. Will You Just Kill The Bull For Once?

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 3: Will you just kill the bull for once?

Flashback: _San Angel after Snow White met Manolo_

San Angel was a town unlike any of those that Snow had ever seen in her life.

Aside from being in the center of a lake, the town's houses were all glued up against one another, leaving enough space for only narrow alleys and average sized streets. The only signs of vegetation that Snow saw were potted plants like flowers and cactus, making her wonder were the locals grew their vegetables and fruits. Unlike the towns she usually saw using torches to bring lights to the streets when night fell, San Angel had strange metal post with glass cases on top which Manolo called 'lampposts' and used a substance called 'kerosene' to light them.

"San Angel is a unique town, isn't it, _señora_ White?" Manolo asked with a proud smile on his face.

"It is. I've never seen any place like this," Snow agreed.

They walked down another bricked street until they led to a few stairs. But what was on the horizon was the most spectacular view Snow had ever seen so far in San Angel: an infinite row of houses and, to crown it all, a large foundation shaped like horns that looked impressive with the sunset rays.

"This is amazing!" Snow exclaimed as they went down the stairs and walked towards the direction of the horn-shaped foundation.

"My house is right next to the bullfighting ring," Manolo said as he pointed to the foundation.

"Bullfighting?" Snow frowned. "What is that?"

"Oh, well…"

"OYE, MANNY!" a voice called. The duo turned to see three men, dressed in identical red-and-white outfits and hats, walking towards them. The shortest barely reached Snow's waist and had the longest hair in the trio. The second was about her height and had the biggest beard, and the third was bigger and fatter than Manolo and had a "smile" mustache. Each of them carried an instrument: the shortest had an instrument similar to Manolo's only it was twice the size of its owner, the bearded one carried a trumpet, and the mustachioed one possessed a violin.

" _Hola_ , guys!" Manolo said. He turned to introduce Snow to the group. " _Señora White_ , these are the Rodriguez brothers, a group of mariachi and friends of mine. They play music just like I do. The shortest is Pablo, the bearded one is Pancho, and the mustachioed one is Pepe. Guys, this is Señora Snow White, a traveler who just arrived outside of town today. I'm bringing her to my house during her stay here."

"Hi. It's nice to meet you," Snow said nicely as she did a gentle curtsy.

"Bienvenido to San Angel, Señora!" Pablo said as he grabbed his instrument and played a few strings in a quick but lively musical tone.

"I've seen Manolo play that instrument when I got here," Snow remarked. "He was impressive."

" _Oh si_!" Pancho said loudly. "Manolo is probably the best guitarist in San Angel."

"Despite the fact that his father wants him to be a bullfighter," Pepe shook his head.

Manolo started to look embarrassed. "OK! I'm sure we'll have plenty to chat together another time, but I must get Señora White to my _casa_. She's being riding in the desert endlessly."

"Easy to tell. Her _caballo_ looks like it's waiting to be chopped off by the butcher," Pablo pointed at Snow's tired horse.

"And with Chakal on the loose, she could have been killed," Pancho added. For some reason, a few passing locals screamed and ran away at the mention of 'Chakal'.

"We'll, we'd better go," Manolo said as he and Snow started heading off. "I'll see you guys tonight at the Main Plaza."

"Sure, we'll see you tonight," Pepe called back.

"And we'll see Señora White tomorrow during Manny's first bullfight!" Pablo added as well.

 _A few minutes later_

"Here we are. This is my house."

As they got closer to the bullfighting ring, Manolo led Snow to a house that was a few inches away from the ring. It was at least three times larger and taller than the other houses she'd seen so far in San Angel and the walls were cleaner. The main difference was that carvings of bulls could be seen on every window panel and on the front door. Statues depicted men provoking bulls with some sort of cloth stood outside the house. A metal post next to the door said 'Familia Sanchez Household'.

"Sorry for the decoration. My family has been bullfighters for generations," Manolo said.

"It's nice. But you still haven't told me what bullfighting is."

Before Manolo could answer, the front door opened and out came a man who looked exactly like an older version of Manolo in his fifties with a mustache and a green suit similar to Manolo's.

"MANOLO! Where on earth have you been? You're supposed to be training for your first bullfight!" he said in an angered tone that nearly made Snow cringe.

"Sorry, Papa," Manolo said. "I found this traveler, Señora Snow White, who's been riding through the desert for days. She doesn't have any of our local money to pay for our town's inn and I thought that perhaps we could shelter her until she's ready to leave."

Manolo's father saw Snow and softened a bit. "I'll let this slip for once, Manolo, only because you we're helping someone out of generosity. Bring her horse to the stables but then I want to see you in the bullring. And _please_ , for once, kill the bull."

Manolo sighed as he gently took Snow's horse by the bridle and walked it towards the stables. Snow watched as he left until his father addressed her.

"Forgive me for my attitude, Señora. I just have high expectations for my _mijo_. My name is Carlos Sanchez, but you can just call me Carlos. Let me show you to your room."

 _Inside the Sanchez household_

"So what brings you to our region, Señora White?"

Carlos led Snow inside the house, which was simpler on the outside than on the outside. The walls were painted in white and the floor was made of black-and-white tiles. There were a few furnitures and potted plants, and aside from paintings depicting people with the labeled name 'Sanchez' under the frames, that was practically it.

"Oh. Well, let's just say that my native country is having an issue with our sovereign," Snow said as Carlos led her up a marbled staircase. "She's a bit ruthless."

"It's understandable," Carlos said in a gentle tone. "We are currently menaced by a bandit king named Chakal. He is said to be ruthless, bloodthirsty, and unstoppable. San Angel and other towns are the preys of his lackey's attacks. You are lucky that you haven't run into him during your travels. Otherwise, you'd be in the Land of the Remembered or the Land of the Forgotten by then."

"The Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten?" They reached an upper floor that looked pretty much like the one bellow. "What are they?"

"In our region and the other regions in this desert, we value death because it's where are ancestors and loved ones are when they aren't among the living. We even have a holiday coming up in two days called the Day of the Dead when we bring offerings to the graves of our beloved up in San Angel's graveyard."

"In other words, it's to commemorate those who loved you and made your lineage unique and honorable?"

"Exactly." They walked towards a red painted door. "And when you die, you go to a specific afterlife. If you are remembered by the living, then you are rewarded with the paradisiac heaven called the Land of The Remembered. Whereas, if you are completely forgotten, then you go to the Land of the Forgotten, where you rot until you dissolve into ashes forever." He pulled out a key and unlocked the door before opening the door and letting Snow in. "This is the guest's room. Make yourself right at home. There are a few spare clothes that belonged to my deceased wife Carmen in case you want to change. Let me know if you need anything."

"I do have one question. Out of pure curiosity," Snow old Carlos. "What's bullfighting?"

Carlos gave a proud smile. " Bullfighting is a very popular sport, especially here in San Angel. A bullfighter is in the ring with a ferocious bull and uses a red cape to provoke the creature. Whenever the bull charges towards the cape and misses it, the crowd says 'Ole!' The bullfighter keeps doing so until the bull weakens and the former kills the bull with only one blade strike when the bull strikes again."

Snow felt her blood freeze at the mention of the bull being killed. "Isn't it a bit, you know, abusive and violent towards the bull?"

Carlos answered in a tone that indicated that he understood Snow's concern and didn't want to offend her. "It's a local sport. For the crowd, it's also a symbol of the bullfighter's courage and determination to face danger. Each of our family members has been a bullfighter for generations, and I mean all of them. Even I am a bullfighter. My son has been training since he was nine to become the greatest Sanchez bullfighter ever but all he ever wants to do is play the guitar and he can't even pull himself to kill one bull while training."

Snow watched as he shook his head at the last part of his sentence. She thought of how great Manolo's music sounded when she first encountered him and how he sighed at the mention of killing a bull while he was gently bringing Snow's horse to the tables. Sure, Manolo looked like he was strongly built to wrestle someone or wield a sword, but he was good-hearted and only wanted to do what he felt was right.

"Well, Señora White, I'll let you rest a bit in the meantime. I'll come back to let you know when it's dinnertime." He gently closed the door behind him, leaving Snow alone in her room.


	4. La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 4: La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora

 _At the Sheriff's Station_

"There's a Mexican restaurant in Storybrooke?"

Emma looked through the proposed selection of restaurants that Henry made for her date with Killian.

"Yeah. It's supposed to be downtown, not too far from my school, actually," Henry said. He pointed at a picture of the restaurant from the outside: a white bricked building with a red tiled roof. The window and door panels seemed to be made of wood and carved with folklore Mexican art. Potted cactuses and flowers stood out outside and customers were sitting outside in small tables with giant, red sun umbrellas covering them from the sun.

"Well, I haven't had Mexican food ever since I left Boston to go to Storybrooke for the first time. Plus, Killian might like it," Emma said. "Sure. This will work. You're the best, Henry."

They hugged each other and Henry went back home, leaving Emma to text Killian about their date.

 _7pm at the front of La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_

"This is the place, love?"

After a few minutes of walking, Emma and Killian had arrived at La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora. It looked at lot nicer than in the picture: not a single cracked brick was seen on the walls. Despite the night being dark, customers still enjoyed eating outside with candles lighting the tables. The tables also had vases full of marigolds on them.

"This looks a lot better than the catalog described," Emma smiled as they began walking towards the front door.

"Love, you do know that the restaurant's name in Spanish means 'the salsa of the death and the feisty one'?"

"Mexicans have a big interest in the dead."

When they walked inside, they were amazed by how welcoming and warm the restaurant was. There were countless round tables covered with white tablecloths and decorated with candles and marigolds. Lanterns shaped like skulls were hung up above the ceiling and the walls had mural paintings depicting Mexican deserts, bullfighters, and people celebrating the Day of The Dead. There was a small platform were anyone could go up and perform music. Right now, three men played Mexican music with a guitar, a trumpet, and a violin.

A woman came to them. She had long, black licorice hair that she kept tied up in a bun. Blue eyeshadow matched the tone of her yellowish eyes. She wore a simple red dress that reached her ankles, black shoes, and an apron. On her neck was a circular gold locket on a choker.

"Hello and welcome to La Salsa De La Muerte Y De La Luchadora," she greeted the two newcomers with a smile. "I am Katrina, co-owner of the restaurant. You can either call me Katrina or by my nickname…La Muerte. Let me show you to your table."

"Thank you," Emma said.

"How welcoming," Killian added.

Katrina led them to a table near the platform. As the couple sat down and Katrina started asking them if they would like to see the menu, the music suddenly stopped. Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at the platform: a woman, dressed in the same apparel than Katrina, only her hazel hair was tied up in a curly ponytail, her eyes were of the same color, she did not wear any makeup, and only the bottom half of her dress was red while the top was white.

"Everybody give a big round of applause to my co-worker, Maria," Katrina said. She applauded, encouraging others to do so. Emma and Killian imitated her and other applauds followed.

"Thank you," Maria said as she brought a microphone closer to her. "I would like to sing this song that my husband once sung to be." She grabbed a guitar and took a deep breath before starting to play a few gentle cords.

 _I love you too much to live without you loving me back._

 _I love you too much. Heaven's my witness and this is a fact._

 _I know I belong when I sing this song._

 _There's love about love and it's ours 'cause I love you too much._

 _I live for your touch. I whisper your name night after night._

 _I love you too much. There's only one feeling and I know its right._

 _I know I belong when I sing this song._

 _There's love about love and it's ours 'cause I love you too much._

 _Heaven's knows your name and I've been praying to have you come here by my side._

 _Without you a part of me is missing. Just to make you my whole life will fly._

 _I know I belong when I sing this song._

 _There's love about love and it's ours 'cause I love you too much._

 _I love…you too much. I love you too much._

 _Heaven's my witness and this is a fact._

 _You live in my soul. Your heart is my gold._

 _There's love above love and it's mine 'cause I love you._

 _There's love about love and it's yours 'cause I love you._

 _There's love above love and it's ours if you love me as much._

Cheering and loud applauds were heard throughout the restaurant after Maria finished her song. Killian definitely cried while the woman was singing and Emma couldn't help but smile at how much emotion she felt in the song.

"Thank you very much for your enthusiasm," Maria bowed to the public. "I know how you feel deep inside. That's how felt when my husband sang it to me the first time. I never forgot that song, even after he disappeared. I would never forget my husband…Manolo Sanchez!"


	5. Three Searches: Good, Evil, and Neutral

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 5: Three Searches called Good, Evil, and Neutral

 _Around 9:30pm at La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_

After having such a pleasant dinner, Emma and Hook were now paying the check in half. They both agreed that dinner here was great and that they should come to this restaurant more often. When Maria came to return the change, Emma immediately engaged in a conversation with her.

"That was quite a show you put up there. I could definetly feel the emotions through the lyrics."

"Thank you." Maria gave a warm, gentle laugh. "My husband Manolo sung it to me while he was courting me when we were younger." Her face suddenly saddened at the mention of her husband.

"Don't mean to offend, ma'am, but you said your husband disappeared," Hook asked. "How did he go missing?" Emma shot a look full of daggers that said _Quit it!_

Maria didn't mind. She pulled a chair from the nearest table, put it closer to Emma and Hook's table, and sat on it. "It's a long story. Well, actually, I'm not just the only one who lost her husband too." She looked towards the kitchen behind the bar counter, where Katrina was washing a bunch of dirty Mexican glasses.

"Katrina lost her husband too?" Emma asked.

"Yes. It was a bit before the Dark Curse. When the news spread throughout my native region that the Evil Queen's soldiers were approaching, many of my town's men went to fight them back…"

"So he died in battle?"

"No! That's the thing! He didn't die! If he died, I would have seen his skeleton visiting me on the Day of the Dead like all other skeletons do, but he didn't come. I tried contacting our death gods to see if he was in the afterlife, but he wasn't there either! If he's not in the afterlife, then he must be alive!"

"So he might be alive," Hook concluded. "But you just don't know where he might be."

"And what about Katrina's husband? Did he go through the same thing than Manolo?" Emma asked.

Before Maria could answer, Katrina got out of the kitchen and made sure that only the four of them were left in the restaurant. When she checked that, she closed the doors, put out the CLOSED sign, and pulled down all the red curtains. Then, she starting glowing and growing, causing Emma and Hook to jump off their chairs. Katrina then became an eight-feet-tall woman with white skin and glowing, multi-colored eyes in shades of gold and red. Her black licorice hair was longer than ever. Her red dress was now decorated with _cempasuchil_ , marigold flowers, and actual lit candles were attached at the hem of her dress. The most spectacular part was the sombrero hat she wore. It was three times larger than Katrina herself and was decorated with ore lit candles, marigolds, small skulls, and palm like feathers. Her chocker with the circular gold locket still remained on her neck.

"Thank goodness! I thought it never be closing time! Disguising as a mortal can make your back ache!" she grumbled in a rather gentle way.

"On the bright side, nobody suspected who you were, La Muerte," Maria replied.

"Time out!" Emma made the time-out sign with her hands. "Katrina…is a…goddess?"

"Best known as La Muerte, ruler of the Land Of The Remembered and one of the two Mexican death gods." Katrina nodded.

"I'm starting to understand why the restaurant had the word 'death' in it," Hook remarked. "And how did _she_ lose her husband?"

La Muerte rolled her eyes in utter disbelief. "That misbegotten son of a leper's donkey is impossible! Even after losing that wager he still meddled in mortal affairs!"

"That's your Xibalba right there," Maria teased. "On the bright side, he did interfere in order to help us fight back the Evil Queen's men. I'm still confused, though, on how a powerful and ancient god like him manage to disappear without a trace along with Manolo."

 _Same time, only on the roof of a building facing the Gold's pawnshop._

Fidget toyed with the buttons of his self-designed radar machine until the mini antenna managed to catch a signal. Headphones on, he adjusted the signal in order to understand properly the vocal dialogues that were occurring in the pawnshop. Once he heard the voice of the ex-Dark One, he hit the recording button.

" _Aren't you just so precious_?" Mr. Gold was playful saying to his baby daughter Amanda.

" _Looks like someone got over with his fear of being a bad parent_ ," Belle remarked.

" _I admit that I'm getting over my fear. But that doesn't change my anxiety concerning Amanda's dark potential. She still needs to be watched_."

" _Don't worry. She's still a baby. We'll make sure that she doesn't become too villainous_."

Fidget wanted to throw up at Belle's remark of being just a baby. Unlike the others, he noticed that Amanda's evil was spiritually taking action. He felt it during his first revenge scheme a few months ago and even now and then, he felt the evil emitting its darkness. Like a parasite, it watched and heard everything its physical host did, only with expanded senses. Even from his cave, the Batrishan felt like the evil baby was watching him.

" _Belle. I have to attend a conference meeting with Regina tomorrow_ ," Rumplestiltskin's voice suddenly cut in. " _I trust that you can still handle the shop during my absence._ "

" _Of course I can, Rumple. Have you forgotten how I've handled your pawnshop when you were out of Storybrooke or when Zelena was enslaving you?_ "

" _I haven't forgotten at all. I just want to make sure that you can protect it, that's all. Besides, you know I have a large amount of artifacts in here that can be used as weapons. And with that blasted Batrishan lurking in the woods…"_

" _Don't worry, Rumple. I'll be more careful this time. Is there anything else you would like to mention?"_

" _Yes. You see that giant jar with dragon paintings on it?_ "

" _I do. What about it?"_

" _There's a small compartment were I keep objects that I don't have the foggiest idea of how I got them, but they must be essential, since their in_ my _pawnshop. Do not, under any circumstance, let anyone take or buy any of those objects."_

" _I won' let them be touched. What types of objects are they?_ "

" _The type of junks you would probably get at some cheap, plastic filled place. A broken mirror, wooden figurines, vials of liquid that don't seem to do anything at all, some old green-ribbon medal with a skull on the center, a…_ "

Fidget hit the recording button again, stopping the recording. He got the information he needed, and tomorrow, he would go shopping at the Gold's pawnshop.

 _In Rosetta's bedroom_

After making sure that she couldn't hear her parents at all, Rosetta pulled out the mysterious book and a flashlight from under her pillow and did one of the numerous things that her parents told her wasn't healthy for a child to do after bedtime: reading in the dark.

She sat on her bed in an angle that would prevent anyone to see the light of her flashlights by looking under the bedroom door. When she was well settled, she placed the book on her lap and opened it.

The book wasn't like any of those she'd ever seen. It didn't start with the words ONCE UPON A TIME. It didn't have a specific theme or topic. No, this was more of a unique treasure. A treasure that told all the world's existing stories. Even the first page seemed to agree with her and led her towards the beginning of a new learning.

 _All of the world is made of stories. And all of those stories are right here, in the Book of Life._


	6. Manolo's True Love and Heart

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 6: Manolo's True Love & Heart

Flashback: _San Angel, in the Familia Sanchez household, at dinnertime_

Snow ate alone with Manolo's great-grandmother, Anita Sanchez, at dinnertime. Carlos had a quick meal in order to keep an eye on Manolo while the latter was training for his first bullfight.

Dinner was unlike anything Snow had ever eaten. Carlos had made a simple, but plentiful meal, knowing that Snow was quite hungry from endlessly riding in the desert. He made _albondigas,_ a soup consisting of carrots, potatoes, salsa, and meatballs; the soup was warm and sent tickles within Snow's throat as she ate it. With the _albondigas_ came vegetable _quesadillas_ and for dessert, a fried pastry called _churro_.

"Dinner good for you, _mija_?" Anita asked Snow.

Snow lifted her head from her meal in order to look at the old woman. The latter was so small that Snow could have easily taken the old woman in her arms as if she were a child. Anita was so much older than her grandson Carlos that she had to move around in a wheelchair. Despite her frail appearance, she did look fierce, and for some reason, focused more on knitting kids socks rather than eating her meal.

"Yes, the food was _delicioso_ ," Snow said, trying to use the Spanish words she had managed to learn so far. "Um, Señora, I was merely wondering: for what purpose are you making those little socks?" Snow expected Anita to give her a look that said _They-never-taught-you-how-to-mind-your-own-business?_ But instead, Anita shrugged as if it was no biggie.

"Those socks are for Manolo and Maria's future children?"

"Manolo and who?" Snow looked confused.

Anita motioned at a black-and-white picture (they called it 'photography') in a picture frame on a nearby shelf. Snow politely excused herself from the table so that she could have a better look at it. It showed three children, one of them being a smaller version of Manolo holding a guitar and the other two being a boy with short, light hair, holding a toy sword and wearing a fake mustache, and a rather cute little girl with her pigtailed hair tied up with ribbons.

"Manolo's best friends were Maria Posada and Joaquín Mendragon. They've spent their entire childhood as inseparable friends."

" _Were?"_ Snow turned to look back at Anita.

"Ten years ago, the day after the Day of the Dead, Maria accidently caused an accident in San Angel that provoked her father, the General and leader of this town, to send her to study abroad in Spain."

"What did she do?"

"She released a butcher's pigs. That _chica_ never believed in slaughtering defenseless animals."

Snow smiled to herself. This Maria seemed to be a very kind-hearted person.

"She returns tomorrow. We'll all see her at Manolo's bullfight in the morning," Anita said.

It then it Snow right in the brain.

"Manolo likes her," she smiled to Anita. The smile slightly faded when she saw the old woman shrug like it was nothing.

"Likes her? No, _mija_. He's in love with her ever since their childhood. After she went to Spain, he kept waiting for her. Every time he played the guitar, it was in memory of Maria."

"That's so sweet." Snow put the picture back on the shelf and returned to the dining table.

"Sweet, _ciertamente_. But playing the guitar won't get him anywhere."

Snow nearly chocked on one of the _quesadillas_. "What? Why not?"

Anita looked away from her knitting and at Snow with her large glasses and old, brown eyes. " _Mija_ , in this town, everyone thinks that being a real man and hero involves killing bulls, being strong, having a bunch of medals, and a mustache. Manolo's friend, Joaquín, excels at those. His strength, his mustache, his chest full of medals, and his victory over bandits made him the town hero. Let me also add that Joaquín also has a crush on Maria. As for Manolo, he won't even kill a bull while training and would rather spend his time playing guitar with his _mariachi_ friends."

Snow tried to gently defend the guitarist. "Maybe he just wants to follow his own path."

"Maybe, but Carlos won't allow it. He greatly desires for Manolo to follow the Sanchez bullfighting tradition. My grandson never believed that music was a fitting job for a Sanchez bullfighter. As for Manolo, he believes that killing the bull is wrong."

Snow looked sadly at Anita as the old lady went back to her knitting. The young traveler helped clear the table after dinner was over. Carlos returned from the bullfighting ring, leaving Manolo there to finish his training, and found Snow cleaning the dishes. Although he insisted that Snow's generous help wasn't necessary and that it was his job as host to clean up after his guest, he willingly gave up after Snow politely insisted that she didn't mind helping. As the two were cleaning up, Snow could overhear Anita muttering.

"Kids with their long hair and no killing stuff. I'm telling you. Manolo, he no do it."

Inside, Snow felt pity for Manolo. The young man was just a kind, pure-hearted man who didn't want to kill, preferred playing guitar with his heart, and wished to win the heart of his beloved. Snow knew what it was like to fall in love with someone who possibly couldn't be with. When she was done with the dishes and went to bed, she made a decision.

She will help Manolo win the heart of Maria in the fairest way.


	7. Shopping Is For Dark Intentions

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 7: Shopping is for Dark Intentions

 _8am, in the Golds' Pawnshop_

It's been a few minutes since Rumple left the pawnshop for his conference meeting with Regina. Belle stayed at the cashier section with her baby Amanda sleeping in a dark green carrier peacefully. Belle grabbed a feather duster in order to clean a few things. It's been a long while since she or her husband had done some cleaning and Henry had stopped doing his apprenticeship months ago. _It's sad, really,_ Belle thought. _It was a pleasure to have my step-grandson around in the pawnshop._

As if Amanda had read her thoughts, the baby started fidgeting and cooing.

"Oh, sweetie, are you OK?" Belle put aside the duster and took her daughter in her arms, cradling her and giving her kisses on the little infant's forehead. The baby started laughing, which made Belle smile. Even though her child might become a villain if Fate was that cruel, Amanda was still a delightful treasure for Belle. It was the second thing she loved the most, the first being Rumplestiltskin.

The bell of the front door dinged, indicating that someone came in. Belle lifted her head from her little girl and saw an average-sized man in a purple sweater, black baggy pants, and two brown, soggy shoes. His hair was black and his eyes were brown.

"How may I help you?" Belle asked as she put Amanda back in the carrier.

"Hi. I'm looking for a gift to give to my wife for my wedding anniversary. She loves things that are fish-themed," the man said.

"Sure. Let me see what we have." Belle turned her back, not noticing that the man was lifting his hands as if he were about to strike her. But before he could do anything, black smoke circled Belle, who didn't have time to be shocked when it paralyzed her instantly.

The man frowned. What the heck just happened?

 _Seriously? This is your way to steal the Medal of Everlasting Life? By going shopping?_ A dark voice asked.

The man reacted when he heard the familiar voice by ripping the right bottom of his pants and lifting his leg up, revealing it to be none other than a peg-leg. He snapped his fingers and with a few seconds of dark purple smoke, he transformed into his true self: Fidget the Bat.

"And I suppose you would have done better, Amanda?" he retorted. "I'm surprised you casted a spell on your own mother."

The evil spirit of Amanda talked as if it was nothing: _When one enjoys evil, one must do things in order to do evil. And before you ask how I knew why you came here, I sensed your presence last night, across the street, eavesdropping on my parents' conversation with your machinery._

"Because you can sense things through walls now?"

 _I like to consider myself a version of the Dark One that is…more evolutionary._

"Enough chitchat. Where's the dragon jar?"

 _On the corner over there, near the door that's barely use. You need to push the jar to your left, then towards you, then at your right, and then away from you._

Fidget did as the evil spirit said. He moved the giant jar in the indicated directions. A flash of light came and a small trapdoor opened. He lifted the small handle and opened the secret compartment.

It was right in front of his nose. In less than a few seconds, he found the Medal Of Everlasting Life.

 _Now that you have it, put the jar back where it was,_ Amanda's spirit says. _The compartment's door will disappear by itself. What's wrong?_

Fidget examined the medal more closely.

"I've seen that Medal before," he realized. "In the Valley of Chakal in a desert back in the Enchanted Forest. How on earth did Rumplestiltskin get it?"

Spiritual Amanda scoffed.

 _You mean you_ _ **don't**_ _remember?_ _ **You're**_ _the one who gave it to him long before the Dark Curse, when he had you fill up Pandora's Box._


	8. The Bullfight

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 8: The Bullfight

Flashback: _San Angel, in the morning_

Sunlight reflected through the windows and woke up Snow. Grumpy from being woken up after so many peaceful hours of sleep that she hadn't had in days.

As she lifted herself on the mattress, she noticed a tray full of food and hot drinks on a little table near the bed. It had a little note with Snow's name on it; that got her attention. She got out of bed and read the note.

' _Señora White,_

 _Buena mañana! With this note, you will find your breakfast. I have left to find Manolo for his bullfighting: the chico ran off last night to join his mariachi friends. When you're ready, come join us downstairs. We'll leave around nine o'clock to the bullfighting ring to watch Manolo du his first bullfight at ten o' clock sharp._

 _-Sincerely, Carlos'_

Snow chuckled when she remembered that Manolo had promised to see his friends, the Rodriguez brothers, at the Main Plaza last night. She wondered if Carlos knew.

After she ate breakfast, Snow took a bath in the bathroom that was annexed to her room. How she missed taking a regular, warm bath! Once washed up, she took a simple dress from the wardrobe and put it on before going downstairs, taking the tray of dirty dishes with her. She brought them to the kitchen, cleaned them, and put them near the sink to dry. Anita was waiting for her in a small room that had altars dedicated to various portrayed people. Lighted candles were the only sources of light in the room. As they waited for the Sanchez men, Snow learned from Anita that the portrayed people were the Sanchez ancestors, all of them famous bullfighters, expect for Manolo's mother, Carmen. When Snow saw the woman's picture on a winged, heart-shaped altar, she could see sincere, motherly love coming from her eyes and smile, which made Snow conclude that Carmen must have been a beloved maternal figure for Manolo.

A few minutes later, Carlos came in the room, dragging Manolo with him. The young bullfighter was holding his guitar in his hands while his father pulled him by the ear.

"Spending the entire night out with those mariachi!" Carlos said angrily as he let Manolo go. "You want to end up like them?" Carlos slammed the door on the Rodriguez brothers, who had followed them.

"I guess will wait for you outside, Manny!" Pepe said from the door's window frame.

Pancho's face popped out of nowhere. "Seems like Mister Sanchez doesn't like us."

"You think?" Pablo said.

"SILENCE, YOU FOOLS!" Carlos grabbed a sword and threw it at the window. The tip went through it and made the mariachi step back when it nearly touched their noses. He went back to Manolo, grabbed his son's guitar and threw it at a corner near a table. Fearing that Manolo's beloved instrument might break, Snow went to hold the not-so heavy instrument in her hands. She watched as Carlos hung a pair of swords on Manolo's back.

"You live under my roof, you live under my rules, YOU WILL BE A BULLFIGHTER!" Carlos said.

"Papa, it's my life!" Manolo said defensively.

"All of the Sanchez have been bullfighters. It's in your blood. It's your destiny!" Carlos motioned the portrayed ancestors with his hand and looked at them in pride while his son looked in displeasure. _Family pressures_ , Snow thought in pity.

"I was a beast in the ring. A BEAST!" Anita growled.

"Wait, you were a bullfighter?" Snow asked. "How?"

Anita shrugged. "Eh. Cross-dressing."

Manolo argued with his father. "This is what you want! Not what I want!" He went to take his guitar from Snow and gave her a small good morning, which she accepted.

"Manolo, Joaquín may be the hero of the town," Carlos said, "but you can become the hero of the ring, if for once you decide to kill the bull!"

"He did kill the bull at training once!" Pepe said from behind the door, trying to support his friend.

"He did?" Snow asked.

"It got struck by lightning," Anita said. "But that didn't count."

Snow tried to picture Manolo, holding a red cape in front of a bull until a sudden lightning bolt struck the beast, killing it. If the Sanchez didn't think that lightning counted, then that meant that actual killing was the only option.

"No!" Manolo retorted. "Killing the bull is wrong!"

Carlos groaned as if he had heard that same sentence over and over again while Anita muttered about kids today with their long hair and their no killing stuff. Snow felt bad that Manolo's family couldn't agree on the same beliefs: she never recalled her parents arguing with her about such things. _Probably because they were never bullfighters,_ she considered.

She watched as Manolo began leaving the room until his father stopped him by asking if he didn't love his family. Just by looking at Manolo's surrendering eyes, Snow could tell that he did love his family and that he didn't want to fail them. So after Carlos begged him to go out there, kill the bull, and be a Sanchez without dishonoring the family, Manolo handed his guitar over to his father and left for the bullfighting ring.

" _Mijo_ , he not gonna do it!" Anita repeated the exact words she said last night when Snow and Carlos were doing the dishes.

Carlos put aside Manolo's guitar and straightened himself.

"Well, it's time to go to the bullfighting ring," he told the ladies. "Shall we go?"

 _Time skip_

The bullfighting ring was one of the biggest arenas that Snow had ever seen in her life. The height, width, and design reminded Snow of ancient ruins that her father had shown her once when she was little, only the one she was in right now was for bullfighting. She, Anita, and Carlos were sitting in the row that was closest to the arena; from what Anita told Snow, Carlos needed to be close to the ring in order to give his son the blade that he'll use to kill the bull, which made Snow wonder even more if Manolo would really kill the bull.

At first, the entire audience was quiet until someone came out of one of the _porta triumphalis._ Snow looked to see if it was Manolo, only it wasn't Manolo: it was a fair skinned, light haired, mustachioed man who seemed to be a year older than Manolo. He wore a blue and red military outfit and two bullet straps attached over his chest. A black cape was attached behind his back and a giant, Mexican hat much more outstanding than those that San Angel's local men wore crowned his head. What really amazed Snow was the amount of medals that the man had over his chest.

He looked like a war hero. Cheers came from everywhere in the arena when the man came out: "JOAQUÍN!" That's when Snow realized the similarity between the soldier and the picture of one of Manolo's friends: this was none other than Joaquín Mendragon, one of Manolo's best friends and one of Maria Posada's suitors.

Snow watched as Joaquín paraded around the ring by standing up on the back of a riding horse without even falling as the creature galloped. Snow heard cheers, an old man saying that Joaquín went from town to town and rid of all bandits, and an oddly deep voice saying: "THAT'S MY BOY!"

Joaquín then jumped on the _palco_ , where a short, old man in a gray uniform and with a hook replacing his left hand was waiting for him and welcomed him on the platform.

People kept cheering until someone walked through the rows and went to sit on the _palco_ with Joaquín and the man who turned out to be General Posada, the leader of the town. It was a young woman, who seemed to be a year younger than Manolo, and she was quite a beauty. Her skin was tanned and her large, hazel eyes were dazzling. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail consisting of cascading curls. She wore a simple, sleeveless dress with the top half white and the red skirt reaching her ankles. The young woman didn't wear a single tip of makeup on her, making her an outstanding beauty.

"That's her," Anita told Snow. "That's Maria Posada."

"The woman he loves?" Snow responded. "She's grown into a lovely person."

"Yes, she lost her pigtails."

The crowd went nuts when they aw Maria's loveliness. A man jaw dropped. A group of towngirls were shocked that she was so natural, unlike them. Snow could have sworn that she heard a sparkling slap and a defensive 'WHAT?' Since when did slaps sparkle?

Music began playing. Out of the _porta triumphalis_ came the Rodriguez brothers playing music as Manolo, holding a red cape over one of his shoulders, followed them. Snow and the rest of the crowd applauded as Manolo stood out in the center of the arena. Snow could have sworn she heard a female voice crying: "THAT'S MY BOY!" before giving a defensive: "WHAT?" after an oddly deep voice gave an _ahem_.

"I would like to dedicate this bullfight to the Señorita Maria Posada!" Manolo announced the crowd as he motioned to the young woman sitting on the _palco_. "Welcome back, Señorita."

Broken wood was suddenly heard and a large, bulky bull with razor-sharp horns emerged into the ring. The Rodriguez brothers panicked when they saw the bull and ran out of the ring screaming like a little girls.

"I'm allergic to dying!"

"Especially on the face!"

Only Manolo and the bull were left in the ring. Snow crossed her fingers as Manolo used both of his hands to hold out the red cape and shook it, provoking the beast. " _Venga, toro, venga_!" Manolo said until the bull charged at the bullfighter. Right on the nick of time, Manolo pulled away the cape, causing the bull to miss its target and to be disoriented for a few minutes.

"OLE!" the audience shouted.

Snow applauded at the action she saw. Some members in the rows through roses at Manolo; he picked one up and held it high up towards to _palco_. When Snow realized that he was using the rose as a token for Maria, who smiled from the _palco_ at Manolo. _She seems to be warming up to him_ , Snow thought.

Suddenly, the bull began charging at an unsuspecting Manolo. Snow feared that her new friend might get hurt until he did an impressive jump, making him spin above the bull and landing on his knees, taking the opportunity to grab the rose by the stem using his mouth.

"Wow!" Snow exclaimed.

"Now that is a Sanchez!" Carlos joined her.

The bull charged at Manolo again. The latter used his red cape to lead the beast into a series of dodging, turns, and loops that finally weakened the beast and made it wobble around the ring. It left a cloud of dust with Manolo, who blew it away with his red cape, exposing a large, written word in cursive. _Maria._

"How creative!" Snow said. She looked towards the _palco_ to see Maria giving a big smile to Manolo. The woman was obviously flattered by Manolo's impressive show. Cheers were heard throughout the audience as the cheered Manolo's name. It was just like Carlos had said. Manolo was becoming the hero of the ring.

Manolo walked towards Carlos, who handed him a small sword.

"Do it, _mijo_. For me. For our family," Carlos told his son. "Be a Sanchez!"

Manolo took the sword and cape and held them out, aiming them towards the bull, ready to kill the beast as it prepared to charge. People in the audience watched for the moment of truth: the moment where the bullfighter would kill the bull.

Snow looked in despair as Manolo prepared to do what he never wanted to do.

Suddenly, Manolo threw his sword in the ground.

"KILLING THE BULL IS WRONG!" he shouted to the crowd as he let the bull charge at the red cape. The beast charged, blinded by the cloth, and ran into a wall, knocked out by stones.

Carlos groaned in disbelief.

"See? I told you he no do it," Anita told Snow.

The next part was terrible. Everyone jeered at Manolo and threw him tomatoes as he tried to convince them that killing wasn't necessary. Snow saw that the only one who wasn't jeering was actually Maria, who stood up from her seat and clapped her hands in glee at what Manolo did and cheered him. Unfortunately, General Posada pulled his daughter away from the _palco_.

And someone threw Manolo's guitar on the latter's head, knocking him out.


	9. The Book Of Life

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 9: The Book Of Life

 _Sunday morning, 10am_

Rosetta liked Sundays because her parents always let her sleep for almost half the morning. Like her father Anubis teased once, back when Rosetta was four, little puppies like his daughter needed a lot of sleep.

But Rosetta was deeply asleep. She didn't actually hit her full zees until midnight; she spent most of her night reading the Book of Life. Cuddling the mystical book in her arm like one of her precious plush elephants when her eyes shut, she slept with the histories of Camelot, the adventures of the Canterbury Pilgrims, the world's other demigods, legendary creatures, and Manolo during his quest to the Land of the Forgotten.

Rosetta was buried under her covers, still cuddling the Book of Life, snoring like a hound. Her slumber was peaceful until a sudden vision told her that her mother was returning from the market in about twenty minutes and there would be issues if she found Rosetta sleeping with a book that appeared from under her bed. Shocked, Rosetta burst out of bed and hid the Book of Life in the small backpack that she used solely on weekends. After zipping the backpack shut, she grabbed a few clean clothes from her closet and dashed to the bathroom. After taking a quick shower, she had a new vision saying that if Rosetta were planning to go to the woods after breakfast, her mother would most likely send Ared with her. _So much for parental overprotectiveness_ , Rosetta grumbled to herself. So, after she dried herself up and put on one of her casual weekend clothes, she looked through one of the medical cupboards that her father had strictly restricted her to touch. _'There are drugs and medicine in there that could put a demigod in a 50 year coma,'_ Anubis told her when they got their mansion after arriving in Storybrooke due to the second Dark Curse.

' _So why do you have them?'_ Rosetta had asked her father.

' _In case you or one of the jackal half-brothers are hurt in a way that even a mortal doctor can't cure you. Plus, most of your jackal half-brothers don't sleep a lot and end up scavenging the kitchen; I use sleeping drugs in their drinks to keep them put.'_

Rosetta knew that what she was doing was wrong, but she managed to find the container full of sleeping drugs and took a pill. Dashing quickly to the kitchen (using her natural jackal speed), she grabbed a small bottle of lemonade (Ared's number one favorite drink), uncorked it, and put the pill in it. Visioning her mother's car approaching, she rushed back to her room and put the drugged lemonade in her backpack, zipped it shut, and dashed back to the kitchen. Acting normal, she set out two glasses and two mugs on the kitchen counter. Right when she stood on a chair in order to reach the shelf with the box of coffee beans, her mother entered the kitchen, carrying shopping bags with her.

"Rosetta? Your up, sweetie?" Her mother asked as she put her groceries on the counter.

"Oh, morning mommy!" Rosetta smiled. "I didn't know if you had breakfast yet, so I thought I could at least make you something to eat."

"How thoughtful of you," her mother smiled as she lifted her daughter of the stool and gave her a big hug. Rosetta adored her mother a lot. "But I already had breakfast before I left for the market. However, I won't mind drinking a small cup of coffee while you have breakfast. Here, why don't you unload the groceries while I cook breakfast?"

Rosetta nodded as her mother put her back on her feet. As Rosetta put the groceries in the sections where they were supposed to be at, her mother pulled out the ingredients she needed to make her daughter's favorite breakfast: apple pancakes with hot chocolate.

"Did Daddy go to work already?" Rosetta asked. She just finished putting the groceries away and was now setting up the kitchen counter for breakfast. Whenever she was alone with one of her parents while the other was at work, they'd always spend a quiet time eating in the kitchen.

"Yes," her mother answered as she finished the pancake batter and started frying the pancakes on a pan while heating up chocolate for her daughter at the same time. "Daddy is working at the jewelry store as usual. But he's planning to finish early and take us to a restaurant for dinner."

"Which restaurant?" Rosetta asked.

"He said it's a surprise." Her mother placed the now cooked pancakes on a plate and poured maple syrup on them before placing the plate in front of her daughter, who licked her lips at the sight of those apple pancakes. "Eat while it's still warm, sweetheart."

Rosetta wolfed down on her pancakes. The large bites of warm apples and sugar filled her stomach. Her mother chuckled as she sat next to her daughter and gave her a mug full of hot chocolate while keeping a mug of coffee for herself. _She's got the same wolf appetite than her father and her half-brothers_ , she told herself.

Rosetta finally finished her pancakes. "Mommy, are you going to be busy today?" she asked her mother quietly.

The woman looked at her demigod daughter. "A bit. I'm going to have to deal with a lot of conference calls today. You know, for the bills and customers who ordered jewelry online. Why?"

Rosetta was quick to come up with a lie, which was an easy thing for her. "Well, I was hoping to work on my book report at the library today; I kinda lost my book and I'm sure where I left it the last time I saw it. But they have a copy of the book at the library and I was hoping to look at it there. Maybe I could walk to town?"

Her mother stopped drinking her coffee, which made Rosetta nervous. Her mother pondered at her daughter's question: on one side, she feared the worst for her daughter, especially since the Batrishan who kidnapped her and held her captive was now lurking in the forest. However, on one side, she feared that she wasn't giving a lot of trust to her daughter. After all, she herself was trusted to walk about with a crossbow when she was around Rosetta's age when she was still living in Russia.

"Sure, you can go to the library. However, just for safety, bring Ared with you while you're going through the woods," the woman said, caressing Rosetta's cheek.

 _As I envisioned_ , Rosetta told herself.

"Yes, Mommy."

 _Around 11am_

Rosetta was struggling as she dragged Ared's sleeping body. They left the Romanov Mansion about 10 minutes ago, and when they reached the Toll Bridge, Rosetta pulled out the drugged lemonade and offered it to Ared. The lemon-loving jackal couldn't resist the offer and had Rosetta pour the entire content in its mouth before it directly fell asleep. Rosetta knew that the effects only lasted between 5 to 6 hours, so she had to quickly hide Ared in one of the nearby dens in order for her to sneak into a peaceful section of the woods and read the Book of Life.

The only problem was that with carrying both the Book of Life in her backpack and Ared in her hands, it was quite a heavy burden for a small, eight-year-old. Good thing she didn't go unnoticed.

"Tell me you aren't dragging one of your father's hounds," a voice said.

Rosetta lifted her eyes to see Fidget the Batrishan hanging upside down from a branch right above her. He looked like he was having a good day, which barely caught Rosetta's attention.

"Well…technically…I drugged him," she said flatly.

Fidget jumped off the branch and landed on his foot and peg leg, making dirt and leaves fly about. Rosetta watched nervously as he approached and poked Ared's head with one of his clawed fingers like a kitty tapping on a ball of yarn.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you that drugs are bad for kids your age?" he lifted an eyebrow at Rosetta.

"More like they'd put me in a coma, but I needed to drug him. I needed some privacy for some reading, but of course, since your last scheme, my mommy's afraid of me going in the forest alone."

"Understandable." The Batrishan shrugged. "Where were you going to take him?"

"In one of the dens by the Toll Bridge. Why?"

"If I carry your jackal and put him there, you won't tell anyone that you saw me?"

Rosetta shrugged. "I'll just say I ran into a squirrel on the way. Which wouldn't be a lie, since I did see one earlier on my way here." _Plus, Ared ate it_ , she added to herself.

Fidget nodded and lifted Ared on top of his shoulders as if he were a rag doll. Rosetta followed him down the Toll Bridge just to make sure that Fidget wasn't going to hurt Ared.

"So why on earth are you going to the forest for reading?" Fidget asked as they arrived at the den, camouflaged by a pile of rocks. "It might be safer for you to do it on our bed with a nice, hot drink and cookies."

"Does it matter?" Rosetta asked flatly.

Fidget made a dramatic face of thinking. "Well, let's see. There's a psychotic, serial killer who is hiding in the forest and cooking up a new scheme and you want to go in that same forest for _reading_?" He gently placed Ared in the den and cautiously covered it with rocks, leaving a few, tiny holes for the jackal to breathe.

"Hum, touché," Rosetta said. She sighed in surrender and took her backpack off her back. She pulled out the Book of Life and showed it to Fidget. "I need to read more of this privately without telling my parents that it somehow appeared under my bed."

Fidget's eyes widened at the sight of the Book. "How on earth did the legendary Book of Life appear under your bed?"

"Wait, you know about it?"

"Of course. Back when I was still a youngling living in Aldorada, my mother Geneva Denada Cortés told me stories about a mystical book, the Book of Life, which contained all the legends and stories about everything in the universe. She also said that everyone's life was recorded in that book."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. Here, I'll show you." He respectfully took the Book of Life out of Rosetta's hands and opened it at a random page before saying a few words. " _Book of Life, thy who knows it all, show me the story of the evilest queen of them all._ "

The Book of Life suddenly glowed and shuffled through its own pages until it suddenly stopped at a specific page. Fidget held the Book in front of Rosetta. Rosetta gasped when she saw that the Book's page was showing a detailed story of Regina's entire life, such as the deal her mother Cora made with Rumplestiltskin, the romance between Regina and Daniel, all the horrors that Regina spread as the Evil Queen, and the things she did in Storybrooke. There were also images contributing to the text. Rosetta was marveled by the Mexican art style that brought parts of the story to life in such a realistic and detailed perspective; even the one depicting Cora crushing Daniel's heart in front of Regina was impressive.

"Amazing," Rosetta whispered.

"Indeed." Fidget nodded in agreement. "However, there is one thing that concerns me."

Rosetta closed the Book of Life and held it close to her chest, fearing that Fidget had the sudden greed to steal the Book for himself. Surprisingly, he didn't.

"The Book of Life is an artifact guarded by the Aztec gods, by the Candlemaker to be specific. So why would a godly, mystical book appear just like, out of nowhere, under the bed of a eight-year-old Egyptian demigod with a serious case of occurring visions?"


	10. I Love You Too Much

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 10: I Love You Too Much

Flashback: _San Angel, after the bullfight_

Grey clouds had covered the sky by the time everybody left and Manolo woke up from his unconsciousness.

When the crowd was leaving, one of General Posada's messengers came to Snow White, telling her that she, along with everyone in town, except the dishonoring bullfighter, were invited to a party at the Posada Mansion in honor of Maria's return. In order to avoid leaving behind Manolo, who would most likely need support, Snow told the messenger that she would have to think about it; the latter smiled and told her that she could come at any time during the party.

She went to join the Rodriguez brothers outside of the bullring along with a dejected Manolo. Pablo then told her tragic news: angered by how Manolo didn't want to be a bullfighter if it meant killing the bull, Carlos had disowned his son by telling him that he was no Sanchez rather than no bullfighter. Snow couldn't believe that Carlos was that extreme along with the rest of the town.

"I'm sorry for what happened out there," Snow sincerely told Manolo as the five of them walked around the empty neighborhoods.

"It's useless," Manolo sighed, with a sign that he was losing all hope. "I'm a failure. The town's _fracaso_."

"You did what you believed was right," Snow insisted. "You should have seen Maria. She was applauding when you refused to kill the bull. So she liked your act!"

Manolo gave her a small look of surprise. "She did?"

The night sky had fallen as they reached the neighborhood where the large Posada mansion resided. Although Manolo insisted that Snow go have fun with the others, the latter refused to abandon her friend.

"I can't believe General Posada invited everyone in town except you, Manolo!" Pepe exclaimed out loud, followed by Pancho blowing on his trumpet.

"Yeah, he even invited us…and he hates us," Pancho added. Manolo began to look dejected again.

"You guys really see this as the best way to comfort Manolo?" Snow scolded, giving a comforting hand on Manolo's shoulder.

"It's hopeless," Manolo said. "She's going to pick Joaquín over me…"

"Don't give up!" Snow said, making him stop in order to listen to her. "Go see Maria and tell her how you feel!"

"Better!" Pepe said, acting as if he had an idea light over his head. "Sing to her. The best song always works!" He whistled, motioning his brothers to gather in a circular, whispering out ideas for the perfect romantic song to serenade for Maria.

"Well, this is going to be good," Manolo muttered sarcastically.

 _Time skip_

"AAAYYYYYY!"

The Rodriguez were probably the weirdest romantic singers that Snow White had ever seen: Pancho was sitting on top of Pablo as if the latter were a chair while he played a small piano with tacky, xylophone music, on top of Pepe's back.

 _Youuuu, you got what I need._

 _But you say he's just a friend._

 _Oh, you say he's just a friend._

 _Oh, baby-eeee…_

Pancho stopped singing when a flowerpot was thrown out of Maria's window and landed in his mouth…literally. This knocked the Rodriguez brothers off balance, ending their ridiculous song.

"Wow, that totally captivated her," Manolo remarked sarcastically.

"I confirm that it bewitched me," Snow agreed in the same tone of shade.

"I don't understand," Pancho said as he and his brothers got up. "This usually works."

"Yeah, it works on my wife," Pepe added before smooching his small violin/guitar, much to the astonishment of everyone else.

"Wait! You're married?!" Pablo asked.

"I got it! Everyone follow me!"

 _If you want my body, if you think I'm think I'm sexy,_

 _Come on, show me that you know._

 _OH oh oh oh…._

The song sounded strange to Snow, with all the active guitar strings, trumpets, and Pepe on the verge of tearing his shirt open. Thank goodness that Manolo covered her eyes just in time until the sound of another flowerpot being thrown, this time on Pepe's head, was heard.

"Very romantic, Pepe," Manolo joked sarcastically.

"Yes, you are such a Don Juan," Snow added. Pepe mumbled as he removed the broken potshards from his head.

"OK, my turn now!" Pablo said. " _One, two! One, two, uno, dos, tres, cuatro!"_ Pablo didn't get to start singing because a large cactus pot landed on the small man, burying him in it. The brothers gave up trying to charm Maria and went to eat at a nearby bar, leaving Manolo and Snow alone.

"You should give it a shot…from your heart," Snow said. "I'll be on there when you need me." After saying this, she went to the house facing the Posada mansion and climbed up the pipe in order to sit on the rooftop She watched as Manolo pulled out his guitar and began playing a soft, yet beautiful melody. Snow noticed that Maria had come out into the balcony and was listening to Manolo's singing as if she were bewitched.

 _I love you too much to live without you loving me back._

 _I love you too much. Heaven's my witness and this is a fact._

 _I know I belong when I sing this song._

 _There's love about love and it's ours 'cause I love you too much._

 _I live for your touch. I whisper your name night after night._

 _I love you too much. There's only one feeling and I know its right._

 _I know I belong when I sing this song._

 _There's love about love and it's ours 'cause I love you too much._

"He's very pure hearted, isn't he?" a voice asked.

Snow nearly jumped when she saw a pale woman, twice her height, wearing a red dress and sombrero hat along with skulls, marigolds, and candles, sitting next to her.

"How?" Snow gasped, but the lady placed a finger in front of Snow's lips, indicating her to be quiet.

"All in good time," the lady smiled. "But first, let us watch this sweet moment between those two lovebirds."

 _Heaven's knows your name and I've been praying to have you come here by my side._

 _Without you a part of me is missing. Just to make you my whole life will fly._

 _I know I belong when I sing this song._

 _There's love about love and it's ours 'cause I love you too much._

 _I love…you too much. I love you too much._

 _Heaven's my witness and this is a fact._

 _You live in my soul. Your heart is my gold._

 _There's love above love and it's mine 'cause I love you._

 _There's love about love and it's yours 'cause I love you._

 _There's love above love and it's ours if you love me as much._

By the end of the song, the Rodriguez brothers had made a human ladder for Manolo to reach Maria's balcony. Snow sighed in happiness as the two youngsters were getting close enough to share a kiss. _Go for it!_ Snow thought. However, it all ended when Maria for some reason prevented the kiss from happening, leaving Manolo and Snow confused.

"Did you think it was going to be that easy?" Maria giggled. The Rodriguez lost balance and fell, along with Manolo, whose guitar landed in Maria's hands. From Snow's perspective, the brothers should have made the ladder from the smallest brother to the largest, because they all fell one at a time on Manolo, with Pepe being the last to land on Manolo…literally rolling on him.

"I…I kind of did," Manolo said dizzily as he struggled to walk.

"Manolo!" Maria laughed. "Hold on, I'm coming!" She began to go back inside.

"Well that ended well," the lady next to Snow giggled.

"What do you mean?" Snow asked. But the lady had left, leaving golden marigold petals on the spot she was sitting.


	11. She Did What?

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 11: She Did What?

 _Still Sunday, about noon_

When David came back to the sheriff's station with food-to-go from Granny's, he was surprised to find Emma scavenging through the Storybrooke Books of Records dating from the two curses.

"Hey, Emma," he greeted, causing the savior to turn her head towards him, making her blond locks flow in the process.

"Hey, Dad," she greeted.

"What are you looking for?" He put down the food-to-go bags on the desk and began pulling out the food. As he set the desk so that they could eat properly, Emma told him what happened last night during her date with Killian last night at _La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_.

"And I've been looking up in the Books of Records to see anything related to Manolo Sanchez or Xibalba, but I've been looking through them for two hours without any results!" She gripped at her cup of coffee as she began losing hope.

David pondered as he finished eating his grilled cheese sandwich. "You know, if you need to talk to someone about Manolo, you should talk to your mother," he said to Emma.

The blonde woman frowned. "Mary Margaret? Wait, does she know anything about them?"

"Better. She _knew_ them. Back in the Enchanted Forest, while we were betrothed and fighting Regina, she told me how she went to a town unlike any other called San Angel in the middle of a desert and encountered a bullfighter named Manolo Sanchez who was trying to woo the woman he loved…Maria Posada. And after they dealt with a few bandits who were causing trouble to the town, your mother attended Maria and Manolo's wedding and left afterwards."

"So she probably knows what happened to Manolo and Xibalba!" Emma said hopefully as she got up. "Let's go ask her!"

"Uh, actually Emma, it might not be as easy as you think it is," David said hesitantly.

"Why not?"

"Well, first off, Snow said that she left hours after the wedding and that was the last time she ever saw them. You said that La Muerte and Maria told you that they went missing while fighting Regina's soldiers. So I'm afraid that Mary Margaret might not know much of what happened."

"I see your point."

"Finally, Snow didn't like talking about the gods, especially Xibalba. I think she still has a grudge on him ever since they had an 'argument' together…"

Emma glanced at her father in confused shock.

"Wait! She did what with Xibalba?"

 _Meanwhile, back in the Storybrooke Forest_

"That's her. That's my mother."

Rosetta and Fidget were in Fidget's came, having some tea as they looked through the Book of Life. Fidget instantly asked Rosetta to stop at a specific page that made him shed tears. It did surprise Rosetta at first to see the all-tough and powerful Fitzgerald Denada, best known as Fidget the Batrishan Prince of Darkness, was crying at the sight of a certain picture. It wasn't until she saw its content that she understood why it was important to the peg-legged villain.

The picture showed the inside of a chapel, where a group of noblemen and noblewomen were all gathered around a friar, who was holding a golden casket in his arms, and a blonde noblewoman, who could have been around the age of Rosetta's mother, who was pulling out a small baby from the casket and looking at it with eyes full of instant adoration. When she saw that it was a baby Batrishan with a dark color tone and a hidden golden medallion that looked very familiar, Rosetta was hit by realization.

"That was back in St Alejandro's Chapel, in Aldorada, on the Day of St Fitzgerald," Rosetta said, looking at Fidget. "The chapel's friar found you in a casket that was left in front of the holy place while the aristocrats were celebrating the holiday dedicated to your namesake. That woman was Geneva Denada Cortés, your adoptive mother. Right when she saw you, she loved you immediately and wanted to adopt you. Even without asking, her husband Hernan agreed with her and they decided to baptize and adopt you on that day."

Fidget looked at the young demigoddess. With all the tears that were flooding out of his eyes despite his efforts to hold them back, the Batrishan looked like a baby bat that was kicked pretty badly.

"Way to sum it up," Fidget muttered through each tear. He slammed his head on his makeshift table, which broke into pieces along with the teacups, kettle, and plates full of teacakes. Rosetta had to snatch the Book Of Life away from the breaking mess. Hanging on to the sacred book, she looked at the Batrishan, who was crying uncontrollably. Feeling bad for that villain who once held her captive and tasted her blood, she pulled a tissue from her backpack and handed it to him.

"Tissue?" she asked. Fidget glared at her, visually asking her _after all that I did to you, why are you being nice to me?_ Nevertheless, he didn't refuse her offer.

"Sure, why not?" The Batrishan gently took the tissue from Rosetta and wiped the tears away from his face until he was sure they were completely dry. He and Rosetta said nothing for the next twenty minutes. Which was fine, since none of them spoke a lot unless necessary.

"I think I should go," Rosetta said. "You look like you need some time alone…" She began getting up until he Batrishan held her back.

"Actually… I think I could use for a break from centuries of loneliness," Fidget said quietly, giving her a pleading look. _Wow, he really has a soft side despite his years of evil monstrosity_ , Rosetta thought. Still, she didn't like seeing people sad, so she gladly accepted keeping that dark Batrishan psychopath a bit of company.

"Sure, but not too long," she said as she sat down on the ground. "I lied to my mother of going to the library to finish my book report since I lost my book. And I can't forget Ared."

Fidget the Bat chuckled. "Drugging your half-brother and now lying to your mother? Well, aren't you the naughty girl?"

Rosetta gave him a skeptical look. "I stopped believing in Santa Claus ever since I was five. You can blame my visions for it."

"I can see the picture: five-year-old Rosetta decorating a Christmas tree with her mommy and when the latter asks her what she wants from Santa, Rosetta says: 'Mommy, you and Daddy lied. Santa doesn't exist.'"

Rosetta widened her eyes. "How did you know that?" This caused the Batrishan to laugh out loud. Soon, it seemed like he didn't even cry about the memory of his adoptive mother at all today.

"Glad you're happy, but I seriously need to do my book report…"

This got the Batrishan's attention, who stopped laughing. "Don't tell me that you are actually planning on using an artifact as important as the Book Of Life for a dumb book report," he said in disbelief.

"For once, somebody agrees with me that Mrs. Roberts's homework assignments are a piece of shit," Rosetta said.

Fidget looked at her as if he misheard her. "Excuse me?"

"What? You've never heard a demigod cuss before?"

"More like I've never heard an eight-year-old kid cuss like that…"

"In three different languages, to boot it all."

"Ok, you know what? I don't want to know. What's your book report on then?"

Rosetta made a grumpy face. "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang," she grumbled.

Fidget snapped his fingers and a copy of the book appeared in his clawed hands. He gave a small look of disgust at it as he offered it to Rosetta. "This is what they make you read at school these days?" he asked the demigoddess.

"No," Rosetta said glumly as she gladly took the book from the Batrishan's hands. "This what my teacher is making **me** read because she doesn't like me and still thinks I'm crazy. Frankly, it's an insult. Even my mom lets me read books meant for older readers. Heck, I read all the Harry Potter books before I even knew from A to Z all my ancient mythology knowledge when I was six!"

Fidget made a small impressed face that clearly said _I couldn't believe she did that_. After someone deep thinking, he snapped his fingers again. After a smoke of purple shade disappeared, a small, yet thick book appeared in his hand. "Maybe you'll prefer this over that dumb car book," he said.

Rosetta's eyes beamed when she saw that it was a copy of Jane Austen's _Pride And Prejudice_ , a classic that she always wanted to read and yet most teachers at school were against because, despite Rosetta's obvious difference from her normal peers, she was still too young to read such books.

She wanted to take the book but held herself back. "What's your catch, though? Aside from not telling anyone that I saw you?" Rosetta asked the Batrishan. "You want me to keep my mouth shut about the Medal of Everlasting Life?"

Fidget looked like he was being choked. His free hand hid inside one of his pockets. "You had a vision about it, didn't you?" he asked quietly.

"I'm the daughter of Anubis, and as an underworld child, I can smell death products. Xibalba made that medal out of the tar that leaks in the Land of the Forgotten, and that's not a foreign smell to me. And like I said, I know my ancient mythology from A to Z."

"You're not going to stop me from using it?" Fidget asked quietly.

"Nope." Rosetta shrugged as if she didn't care. "Personally, I don't care anymore of you and your stubbornness scheming for revenge and all. Last time I tried reasoning with you, you threw one of my friends down a ravine. So yeah, I'm not planning on telling anyone anything."

"And you will make sure that the Book Of Life stays in your safe hands," Fidget added as he handed the Jane Austen book to the demigoddess, who accepted it this time.

"Why do you care about the Book Of Life being safe with me?" Rosetta asked.

"Because if the Book gets destroyed, so are the stories in it. Especially those that have been forgotten by others. If even one person forgets a story or deceased person, then they disappear to ashes forever. Mark my words, it would be a fate worse than death itself."

Rosetta gasped in horror: "It would cause chaos."

Fidget nodded. "And with Amanda's wicked spirits' thirst of chaos, who knows what could happen? After all, she was the one who froze Belle when I came to the ex-Dark One's shop in order to get the medal. And for some reason, she said _I_ was the one who gave Rumplestiltskin the medal…along with some deal concerning Pandora's Box."

"WAIT! SHE DID WHAT?"


	12. Rendezvous & Family Hangout

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 12: Rendezvous & Family Hangout

 _Sunday (will it ever stop being Sunday?) afternoon_

"Yes, I did know the Sanchez…and the death gods."

As soon as Emma mentioned Maria and La Muerte when she and David came back to the Blanchard Apartment, Snow White didn't deny anything. She said the truth straightforward.

"How exactly did you manage to meet gods who were over a thousand years old?" Regina asked. She came to give Henry a quick visit when Emma came in bombarding Snow with questions.

"That's not all," Emma said, turning to Regina. "Maria said that Manolo and Xibalba went missing when they were trying to defend his hometown from your soldiers, Regina."

"Really?" Regina rubbed her chin. "I don't exactly have a book of records of all the towns I attacked when I was hunting Snow White down. Where was that town, San Angel, again?"

"In the Chihuahan Desert," Mary Margaret said. "A thousand miles away from Glowerhaven. Locals from towns outside of the desert claimed it to be hotter than the deserts of Agrabah itself."

"Oh now I remember!" Regina snapped her fingers. "It was months before that mess involving our mermaid friend Ariel. A peasant told me that you went to the desert in order to escape from me. So I sent about a dozen men to hunt you down and, well, only three came back."

"That's San Angel for you, Regina," Snow grinned proudly. "They never give up. This definetly reminds me of good old days."

"I get the part of you trying to help Manolo win Maria's heart and all," Henry said, "but why did you deal with La Muerte and Xibalba."

Snow sighed. "I met La Muerte while I was watching Manolo serenade his 'I Love You Too Much' song to Maria and she called him 'pure-hearted'. As for Xibalba, well, I met him after he killed Manolo…"

"He WHAT?" Regina asked loudly.

"Xibalba murdered Manolo?" David frowned.

"But…Maria and La Muerte said that Xibalba helped Manolo defend his hometown," Emma added. "And now you're saying Manolo died?"

"At their wedding, Manolo recounted the adventures he, Maria, and Joaquín had since they were kids. In the process, I learned that Xibalba and La Muerte-they were having marriage issues back then- made a bet when they saw them as children during the Day Of The Dead. They made the bet on which boy Maria would marry wen they became adults. La Muerte betted on Manolo while Xibalba betted on Joaquín," Mary Margaret explained.

"Here we go," Regina face palmed herself. "Another matchmaking story."

"I'm guessing Xibalba lost the bet, since Manolo married Maria," Henry said.

"Not really," Snow said, her voice getting angry. "Xibalba cheated."

"He WHAT?" Regina asked in the same, previous loud tone.

"No wonder La Muerte sounded upset when she talked about him," Emma said. "What exactly did they wager on?"

"Xibalba wagered that he and La Muerte would switch realms if he won and La Muerte wagered that he'd stop interfering in mortal affairs if she won," Snow continued explaining. "But while La Muerte let Manolo court Maria in his own, truthful way, Xibalba didn't play fair. First, he gave Joaquín a powerful medal, the Medal Of Everlasting Life, which would grant invincibility to the wearer. Then, when Maria and Manolo were having a romantic moment together, he sent a two-headed snake to bite Maria. It put her in a coma that made others think she was dead. Manolo was so devastated that he was willing to die just to be with Maria. So Xibalba had the same snake bite Manolo. Only this time, Manolo _did_ die."

Tears could be seen leaking their down of Emma's cheeks. "I know this isn't the time…but…this is so romantic! Manolo was willing to give up his life…just to be with Maria again?"

"People do crazy things when they're in love," Mary Margaret nodded.

"Hold on, Snow," David cut in. "If the snake put Maria in a coma, how come it killed Manolo?"

"The snake bit Maria only once in order to put her in a coma; however, for Manolo, it bit him twice. Don't forget, it was a two-headed snake, one head on each end of the body. I'll never forget it: the way Manolo stood there, in front of Xibalba, saying that he wanted to be with Maria with all his heart. The way that Xibalba snapped his fingers to summon the snake. And…and the way I stood there…doing nothing…while that monster murder my friend…" Mary Margaret broke into tears while David gave his wife a hug to comfort her.

"Let's go with that for now," Emma said. "Although Xibalba sounds like a complete monster, I can't refuse another god's request for help. Last time I nearly did, Anubis nearly mummified me."

"As if all the things we have to deal with every day in this town weren't enough," Regina muttered.

"So what do we do now?" Henry asked.

"Could you look in your storybook, Henry?" Emma asked. "Maybe it has clues on the whereabouts of Manolo and Xibalba." She hoped that Henry would agree with this, but instead, her son shook her head.

"I know the storybook by heart, Mom, from every character's backstory to the first Dark Curse. There's no reference to San Angel, or the Sanchez, or the gods."

"Like the town didn't exist," Regina suggested.

"Maybe," Mary Margaret brushed away a few tears. "Back when I was in San Angel, the townspeople liked to think that their town was not only in the middle of the Chihuahan Desert, but that it was also in the center of the universe."

"Or the gods probably put a protection spell on the town so that it's existence remained unknown to others from the outside world," Henry suggested. "I mean, that's what we did for Storybrooke after all."

"Let's contact Anubis," Emma said. "Besides, he knows more about death gods than we do." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the Egyptian god's phone number. She pressed the speaker button and classical Russian music played before Anubis' voice could be heard.

"Romanov Jewelry Boutique, where the best jewelry and hand-crafted fabrications of high value can be found in Storybrooke. You're speaking to the owner Anton Romanov, how may I help you?" the god said informatically through the phone.

"Lord Anubis, this is Emma Swan on the phone," Emma spoke. "We need your help."

"Make it quick, Ms. Swan, for I was in the middle of selling a set of ruby and 24 carats necklaces to a crazy cat-loving lady," the god muttered in disgust.

"Do you know anything concerning the town of San Angel?" Emma asked.

"You're wasting my time, Ms. Swan. I'm an Egyptian god. Mexican souls are out of my league."

"But it's important! La Muerte is in Storybrooke and she needs help finding Manolo Sanchez and Xibalba…"

"Frankly, Ms. Swan, I've lost interest in the topic. Why should I waste my time helping you find a guitar-playing bullfighter and a wager-cheating, inferior death god, when you were barely able to help me save my daughter from a crazy Batrishan? Besides, I'm not planning on doing anything else after work besides spending dinner with my family at a restaurant. And P.S, next time you see La Muerte, you can tell her that I'm still screaming at her son of a bitch husband for what he did at the Lexor Temple!" He hung up the phone, leaving a trail of beeps behind him.

"Well, I guess we can cross of getting any help from Anubis at all," Regina said. "What's Plan B?"

Henry's face brightened. "Is anyone up for a family dinner at _La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_?"

 _Later on in the afternoon_

"C'mon Ared!"

Rosetta and Ared were racing their way back to the Romanov mansion. Thanks to a weight-reducing spell that Fidget gave to her before they gave good-byes, the Book of Life wasn't that heavy anymore as the young demigoddess carried it in her backpack. That Batrishan could really be soft at times. After all, he did help her finish her book report on _Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang_ and understand the complicated words in the first few chapters of _Pride & Prejudice_. If only he had chosen good over revenge…

"Daddy!" Rosetta squealed in delight when she saw her father's car parking down their pathway and in front of the main entrance. She ran as fast as she could towards Anubis as soon as he began stepping out of his car.

"Rosie! How are you, my little desert ruby?" the god asked happily as he swept his daughter of her feet and swooped her in the air the same way he did when she was little and they were playing 'birds'. The little girl laughed until he brought her close to him and gave her a big hug.

"I missed you while you were at work, Daddy," Rosetta said as the god caressed her hair lovingly with one hand. "Did you mummify customers with lots of diamonds?"

Anubis chuckled at the joke his daughter made. Really, this child will never stop making him grateful of choosing fatherhood and raising a child over never knowing his children until they died and got revived as jackals…just like his faithful jackals.

"Yes, Daddy mummified a lot of customers," he joked as he put her down. "And he's taking you and Mommy to a restaurant tonight for dinner!"

"Where are we going?" Rosetta asked. "I can't vision any…"

"Hey, no peeking!" Anubis teased. "It's supposed to be a surprise! Now go put your stuff away and clean up. We'll leave as soon as you're ready."

"What about Mommy?"

"She's always ready, you know that."

Anubis watched as his little girl ran up the stairs and inside the mansion. He sighed in happiness.

"You seriously told her to not peek at the future?" a voice asked.

Anubis turned to his right side to see Marion leaning in her old spy pose on the wall, arms-cross-folded, her slender body dressed in a short, black leather opera dress with matching high-heels, her long red crimson hair being blown by the West Wind Zephyr, and her cyan blue eyes shining from the last rays of the sunset. She looked teasingly at her husband.

"A god can't take the liberty of joking with his daughter?" Anubis said, smiling at his wife. The latter chuckled and walked towards him.

"Any father would joke with his child," Marion said. "It's part of parenthood."

Anubis smiled before it gradually faded. This did not slip from Marion's attention.

"Anubis?" She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Is everything alright?"

The god sighed. "The Fates blessed me with a child that I could finally raise so that I could finally know what it's like to have a true family. I've used everything that I had in my power to make sure my daughter could be raised safely, properly, and lovingly, even after the Dark Curse. But with her gift of visions, people alienating her or asking her to give them feedback using her powers, and the Batrishan who recently kidnapped her and I couldn't even defeat him…I'm…"

"Anubis, I know what you're thinking. You aren't your father Seth. You've done everything that he couldn't have!"

"So why am I feeling like I'm failing my paternal responsibilities?"

Marion caressed her husband's cheek. The warmth of her touch was soothing to Anubis.

"How often do you think I feel like I wasn't a good mother to Rosetta?" she asked her husband quietly. Her words affected the god with a smile.

"Marion, for Isis' sakes! I don't what life would be like for Rosie…or for me…if you were never here!" Anubis said happily as he touched the hand that his wife used to caress him. She returned the gesture by holding his other hand.

"And I don't know what my life would be like if you hadn't saved me from slavery when we first met back at the Egyptian Divine Citadel."

Their lips got closer as they…

"Sooo, are we ready to go?" Rosetta popped behind her parents, making them jump in surprise.

"Rosie! What did we say about ruining romantic moments?" her mother scolded.

"What? It's not like the times when I accidently interrupted one of your picnics, or walks, or wedding anniversaries, or making …"

"OKAY! Let's go for dinner!" Anubis said, ushering his wife and daughter to the car.


	13. Manolo or Joaquín?

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 13: Manolo or Joaquín?

"Come on, Manolo!" Snow grunted. "Get a hold of yourself!"

Manolo was still dizzy from getting crushed by the Rodriguez siblings one by one that he could barely stand up. Snow and Pepe had to help him stand up and put their arms on his back in order for the guitarist to keep balance. The five of them (Snow, the three brothers, and Manolo) made way for the front door of the Posada Mansion so that Manolo could get his guitar back from Maria.

They rushed to the door; once they made it, Pablo pushed it open. They should have felt relieved of finally making it, but once they saw what was inside, it was pretty clear that they should have considered knocking before entering. For in the center of the large white room stood Maria, holding on to Manolo's guitar, looking conflicted as her father, General Posada, gently pushed her toward Joaquín, who was kneeling in front of Maria and holding a small box with a diamond ring in it.

However, once everyone heard the door open, all eyes were fixed on the group. There were gasps. One of the town girls fainted. Maria looked relieved when she saw Manolo.

"Uh…bad timing?" Snow asked nervously as she let go of Manolo. The latter trotted dizzily and rested a hand on Joaquín's shoulder like buddies.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked, still dazed. Joaquín looked at Manolo then at Maria in confusion. Embarrassed, Maria hid Manolo's guitar behind her.

"What? Wait…did...did he propose to you too?" Joaquín asked, pointing at Manolo.

"No," Maria chuckled nervously as she pulled a strand of hazel hair behind her ear. She then looked at Manolo with an expression that seemed to be confused, surprised, or hopeful according to Snow's point of view. The princess felt pity for Maria: her two childhood friends were trying to woo her, one with a love ballad and the other with a proposal, and here she was, all conflicted.

"Were you?" Maria asked Manolo. This seemed to fully awaken Manolo, who was just as confused as Joaquín.

"What?"

"Well, I came first, to be fair," Joaquín said confidently as he got up. He gave a friendly nudge at Manolo. "So why don't you run along and kill a beast, or whatever it is you do during your free time." He gave a few winks at the crowd, who snickered in return. But Manolo didn't seem to take it well, especially coming from one of his childhood friends. Frustration could be seen on his face as he pushed Joaquín. Four skinny men, dressed up in blue military uniforms, caught the muscular man before he could hit the ground.

"You're both acting like fools!" Maria said in an annoyed tone as she put down Manolo's guitar gently on the floor.

"Wait, me too?" Manolo asked dumbly as he pointed at himself.

"Who do you think she meant? Pepe?" Snow asked sarcastically. A few people laughed. Even Maria grinned, thinking that Snow was funny.

"Wow, Joaquín! You're very muscular!" one of the military men said as he patted Joaquín's left arm.

"Thanks, I exercise a lot," Joaquín said proudly as he got up. Snow wanted to gag at his remark: even Regina's soldiers weren't _that_ narcissistic. She watched as Joaquín mocked Manolo. "Listen, I like you pal. But how can you protect Maria if you can't even kill a bull?

Gasps and taunts were heard among the crowd.

"Well said, Joaquín!" one of the military men said.

"Ooh! That stung, pal!" Pancho said. His siblings made gesticulations of _touché_.

"Oh yeah?" Manolo mocked back at Joaquín. "Well, you'll never be as great as your father!" He pointed a finger at Joaquín, who reacted offended. The gasps heard among the crowd were louder than last time. Even Maria was more shocked than ever.

"Way to go, Manolo!" Pepe cheered.

"That wasn't necessary!" one of the military men protested.

"Seriously, Manolo? You had to go _that_ far?" Snow asked in disbelief. But Manolo didn't listen because he was too busy arguing with Joaquín.

"Don't point your finger at me!" Joaquín said, pointing at Manolo's face.

" _You_ don't point _your_ finger at me!" Manolo retorted, pointing back at Joaquín. The two men ended up bickering, hitting their hands against one another like sissy girls.

"Are you sure they were like this as kids?" Snow asked Maria in disbelief, motioning to the bickering boys.

"Maybe to a lesser degree, but still closely similar," Maria said. "By the way, I didn't quite catch your name."

"Oh! I'm Snow White."

"Funny. The name rings a bell for some reason. Anyway, welcome to San Angel." Maria said.

"Thank you. Excuse me for one minute." Snow then turned to Manolo and Joaquín and shouted at them: "When you're done acting like five-year-old girls, maybe you'll start taking some more action instead?"

"Well said, sister!" one of the military men said. He grabbed a sword and threw it at Joaquín. "Joaquín!"

The soldier grabbed the sword and pointed it at Manolo. "En garde!" People gasped.

"Manolo!" Pepe shouted. He threw something at Manolo, but when the latter grabbed it and pointed it at Joaquín, he gave Pepe a death glare when he saw that it was his guitar. Maria looked at her feet. How did the huge and fat Pepe managed to get Manolo's guitar without her noticing?

"What? You wanted a banjo?" Pepe asked, missing Manolo's point.

"What on earth did you drink for dinner, Pepe?" Snow asked skeptically. People in the room laughed at the sight of Manolo holding his guitar. First, he was a bullfighter who wouldn't want to kill the bull, and now he's using his guitar as a weapon during a duel against the town hero.

"What?" Joaquín laughed. "What are you going to do? Play us some _música_?"

Manolo grinned mischievously. He played a few cords on his guitar, creating a dramatic sound. "I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

The men began engaging in a fight. While Joaquín swashed with his sword, Manolo was going to hit him with his guitar. But before the blade and the fret board could collide, another blade blocked them and swished them away. All eyes turned to see Maria as the one who stopped the fighting with a sword from who knows where.

"Did I mention I also learned fencing?" she said as she grabbed Joaquín's sword with her spare hand and returned it to him. Snow managed to catch Manolo's guitar while the men were awed my Maria's new skill.

"Looks like we'll have to discuss this later," Joaquín said quietly.

"Where you want, when you want," Manolo said rather aggressively.

"Are you guys serious?" Maria asked exasperated.

Joaquín gave a silent glare before saying that he got it and left the room.

"Joaquín! Don't go!" one of the military men shrieked. "What if the _banditos_ attack?"

Just as he said that, a canon explosion was heard from outside.

"What was that?" Snow asked as people began to be scared. The doors opened and two little boys came in screaming frantically: " **THE** _ **BANDITOS**_ **ARE HERE!** "

" **AND JOAQUÍN JUST LEFT SAN ANGEL!** " one of the military men screamed. Everyone began screaming and running throughout the room. Nuns began to scream in a sort of gospel union: "Catastrophe!"

 _Some town_ , Snow thought.

 _Time skip_

 _Some man_ , Snow thought.

Right when the bandits were about to attack Manolo, Maria, the General, Snow, and the rest of San Angel, Joaquín appeared in the moonlight, jumping off his horse and single-handedly fighting all of the bandits without even one scratch (although he removed his hat, cape, and swords). The entire town cheered as the bandits ran away from the town hero.

"That was amazing!" Maria told Joaquín.

"I've never seen anybody able to beat twenty men all at once!" Snow added in amazement.

"You really are a hero," Manolo said sadly. Seeing her friend's sad face made Snow regret what she just said. Her attention went back to Joaquín when he suggested to a hesitant Maria that they continue their conversation.

"Maria, _chica_ ," General Posada urged. "Please, do this for the town. Without Joaquín, we're at the mercy of Chakal!"

The young woman looked at the rest of the townsfolk: all of them gave her pleading eyes. Snow tried her best to give a look that suggested Maria to think things through. Unfortunately, Maria gave in to her father's request. She suggested that her old friend told her about how he got his medals and the two left for a walk while the rest of town dispersed, leaving Snow with a hopeless Manolo.


	14. Restaurant Dinner And Revelations

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 14: Restaurant Dinner And Revelations

 _Around 7pm, at La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_

It was packed this evening at _La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora._ When Emma and her family came to the restaurant, it seemed rather hopeless to find an available table. Fortunately, Maria spotted them.

" _Hola_ , Emma," she greeted as soon as she spotted them entering the restaurant. "How many…" Maria stopped when she saw Mary Margaret. "Snow? Is…that you, _mi amiga_?"

" _Si_ , Maria Posada Sanchez," Mary Margaret said with a tearful smile. The two women embraced one another as everyone else watched them having such a tearful reunion. After they were done, Maria led them to a nice, big table, near the karaoke stage.

"How come we haven't seen you in Storybrooke before?" Mary Margaret asked as she sat down between David and Regina.

"La Muerte and I were in San Angel during the first curse," Maria explained. "She and another deity, the Candlemaker, used the necessary magic needed for protecting the town from Regina's curse." At that, she glared at Regina and gave her a cold shoulder.

"I know, I know," Regina grumbled. "I was evil and I ruined lives."

"You especially ruined mine," Maria hissed. It was clear that she still saw Regina as the Evil Queen. "I spent a decade away from my hometown, and right after I went back to San Angel and married my true love Manolo, your men invaded the Chihuahan desert and my husband ends up disappearing two weeks later. I basically spent _treinta años de mierda_ in a state similar to the one of a widow because of you!"

Regina wanted to defend herself, but she knew it would be best if she kept herself quiet for now. It was normal for most of the other Storybrooke citizens to doubt her even though she had reformed and done everything she could to fight for good.

"The appetizers sound delicious," Henry commented as he looked at the menu before turning to Maria. "Which ones do you recommend?"

"My personal favorite is our _matador nachos_ ," Maria said with a smile as she forgot Regina and went to Henry. "It consists of ground beef, diced onions, any choice of cheese, fried black beans, tortilla chips, sliced jalapeno pepper, and a pinch of chili sauce."

"May I try it, Mom?" Henry asked Emma.

"I've a better idea." Emma turned to Maria. "Would it be possible to have the _matador nachos_ to share altogether?"

"Of course," Maria said, grabbing a paper pad from her pocket and taking notes. "Anything else?"

 _Meanwhile, just across the room_

"Daddy, is it alright to for me to read while we wait for the food to come?" Rosetta asked. She and her parents had arrived at _La Salsa De La Muerte Y La Luchadora_ about ten minutes ago and had already ordered the food. Rosetta was on the verge of doing her puppy eyes…

"OK, Rosie, but on one condition," Anubis said. "You put your book away once the food is on the table and you stop using your puppy eyes on me." The god was serious when it came to the part of the puppy eyes, for among the demigod powers that Rosie was slowly developing aside from her unique foreseeing powers and minor jackal abilities, the puppy eyes permitted her to be…very convincing. To be frank, the amount of times Rosetta used the puppy eyes on her father in order to be given liberties was starting to annoy him.

"Deal, Daddy." She and her father gave a pinkie promise and while she pulled out a storybook (actually the Book of Life, only she created a fake _Grimm's Fairytales_ paper cover with crayon doodles on it in order to hide the book's true identity) and proceeded in reading it, Anubis and Marion entered a conversation.

"You refused to help them?" Marion asked her husband in surprise when he told her about the conversation he had with Emma Swan on the phone while he was still at the jewelry store, an hour or so before he closed the store. "Why?"

"After what happened during our encounters with the Batrishan?" Anubis quickly glanced at Rosie, who was in the middle of reading the true story of Baelfire. It was obvious that he was referring to Fidget the Bat kidnapping Rosetta as soon as he arrived in town and Rosetta's interaction with the Batrishan while discovering his involvement with the Bog King sending a grass-snake to eat Killian and Lily and Blackbeard the sicko spa-owner making the brainwashed Fairy Queen Marianne one of his numerous sex slaves.

"Besides…I have an old rivalry with Xibalba," Anubis added.

"What happened between the two of you?" Marion asked. A waiter brought a martini with a twist for her and a cranberry juice for Rosetta. Anubis had brought a bottle of godly nectar to drink aside from the restaurant's glass of water provided to him.

"He tried to take over my portion of the Lexor Temple fifty thousand years ago by cheating on a bet involving merchants and a locust plague."

"I didn't know you contributed to one of the ten plagues of Egypt, Daddy," Rosetta said, briefly lifting her eyes away from the part where Pinocchio convinced Baelfire/Neal Cassidy, to leave Emma Swan behind.

"My 'issue' with Xibalba took place thirty thousand years before Moses and the Hebrews, sweetheart," Anubis corrected his daughter. "And I took care of the firstborn death plague, not the locust plague."

"Who did the locust plague, then?"

"Apis took care of it. But that's gonna have to be a story for another day, Rosetta."

While her parents went on about discussing grown-up, Rosetta kept reading the Book of Life, overwhelmed by the wonders found in its stories. After reading more than thirty pages in less then ten minutes, she then hit the last page with text and images. Funny: there was an illustration depicting Rosetta and her parents currently at the restaurant while she was staring at the illustration in the Book of Life. Plus, the way the last sentence ended was also odd.

 _The young Rosetta stared at the next page, wondering what future stories await…_

The next page was blank. Rosetta flipped through the following pages, seeing nothing but blankness. It's almost as if the author of the Book of Life didn't have time to write down the next stories.

A thought then came to Rosetta: who _was_ the author of the Book of Life? Was it the Candlemaker, the god who guarded it? Maybe it was a mortal chosen by a wise sorcerer, the same way that cursed Isaac Heller was chosen by Merlin and his apprentice to continue recording the stories in Henry's beloved storybook? Perhaps that was the reason why such an artifact was found under Rosetta's bed last night.

 _Mommy and Daddy might kill me if I do this_ , Rosetta thought. While making sure that her parents weren't watching her _without_ giving away any hints, Rosetta let her hand slip into her right pocket and pull out a blue pen. Usually, Rosetta would mentally slap herself for writing in a precious book, whether it was hers or not, but she just couldn't resist.

She cautiously pulled of the cap and gently began using the pen to write down on the first blank page. She had to be careful: who knew how ancient this book was?

 _And so, a young demigoddess named Rosetta Anubisia Romanov began to…_

Rosetta didn't get to finish the sentence she had begun to write, for the letters forming her name began to glow on the page and a blast of light exploded out of the book. Customers jumped, gasped, and screamed when they saw Rosetta struggling to get the book close.

"ROSETTA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE AGAIN?" Anubis shouted as he and his wife got up once they saw the book glowing.

"I…I DON'T KNOW!" the young girl stammered. Marion rushed to try to forcefully shut the book close, but the blast just increased, throwing off Marion as she crash-landed into the stage.

"Marion!" Anubis rushed to his wife. Rosetta tackled with the book. Emma and her family, who just got their meals served by Maria, got up when they saw the commotion that the young demigoddess had inadvertently created.

"Rosie! What on earth are you doing?" Emma demanded. Before the latter could answer, the book began shaking until it started to fly in the air. Rosetta grabbed the book's spine, which only resulted in her accidently ripping the fake cover and reveal the real one.

"Is that…?" Mary Margaret gasped.

" _El Libro De La Vida,_ " Maria said in Spanish at the sight of the book.

"Wait? This is _the_ Book Of Life, Snow?" David asked, pointing at the book.

"But what's it doing here in Storybrooke?" Maria's eyes then went on to Rosetta. "And what is it doing with you?"

"I don't know!" Rosetta began crying. "It appeared under my bed last night! I don't know why it did and I didn't have the courage to tell my parents about it!"

"Rosetta, calm down!" Anubis panicked. "Your reaction is causing the Book of Life to overload!" And he was right, for the more Rosetta was overwhelmed with emotions; the more the Book of Life looked like it was going to explode. Rosetta was now sobbing to the point where she began to have horrible chest pains.

Suddenly, something shattered out of the restaurant's window and aimed its way at Rosetta.

"Rosie, look out!" Henry called out. Surprisingly, the blast of crazy magic and the Book of Life stopped going nuts when the thing reached Rosetta. As the light cleared itself, the thing was seen giving a hug to the overwhelmed Rosetta. And the thing was…

" **FIDGET THE BAT!** " everyone exclaimed in shock. You had to admit that this was quite a shock: the villainous Batrishan who had nearly killed everyone in Storybrooke for the sake of getting revenge on one pirate had just saved an entire restaurant full of people from Rosetta being overwhelmed by the Book of Life. Even the jaws of Anubis and Marion were dropping at the sight of their eight-year-old daughter being saved by that peg-legged fiend.

"Calm down, Rosie," Fidget said gently, giving her a softer hug. Rosie whimpered as she cuddled her head on his chest, tears leaking onto his shirt. "Remember what happens to the stories if the Book gets destroyed."

Rosie nodded. The Batrishan let her go and she began to wipe off her tears just as her father went towards her and began covering her.

"Don't even think about…" Anubis began until he saw Fidget pick up the Book of Life and walk towards Katrina, who had been standing still by the bar, unknown to the others.

"I believe this belongs to you…La Muerte," Fidget landed on his knees as he handed the Book of Life to Katrina, who had now transformed back into her godly form. Every mortal was awed at the sight of the goddess.

"La Muerte?" Mary Margaret gasped as she began to drop on her knees until La Muerte gave her the kind look that said bowing wasn't necessary. The latter went back to Fidget, gently taking the Book of Life from him and stroking its cover.

"Don't you have something else that would be best returned?" La Muerte gently asked the Batrishan.

Everyone looked at the Batrishan, who began to look rather conflicted. A heavy sigh came out of his mouth as he took out a dark medal from his pocket and handed it to La Muerte.

"THE MEDAL OF EVERLASTING LIFE?" Maria gasped.

"The what now?" Regina asked.

"A medal granting invincibility," Mary Margaret explained. "Last time I saw it, Joaquín Mendragon returned it to Xibalba in San Angel." She turned to give a stern look at Fidget. "What on earth are you doing with it?"

"I stole it from Rumplestiltskin's shop while he was out," he said. "I was planning on using it against the codfish to get rid of him with my bare hands."

"This will go back to my husband as soon as we find him and Manolo," La Muerte said. She then addressed the Batrishan. "You've been delaying your death for a long while, haven't you?"

"Yes, milady," the Batrishan said quietly.

"Your age?"

"My 300th birthday is approaching in the summertime."

"You're _that_ old?" David said in shock. "But you look like you could be, what, seventeen?"

"That's when I stopped aging," Fidget said, rolling his eyes.

"A discussion with your patron will definetly be held once Xibalba is found." La Muerte's voice was still calm and gentle but had a small hint of firmness. Even the Batrishan looked uneasy at the mention of his 'patron', which caused uneasy whispers among the crowd. Fidget the Bat, who had numerous powers and was practically as old as Captain Hook and Rumplestiltskin, serving someone who might be even more powerful than him and whom La Muerte knew? This couldn't be good.

"La Muerte, what are you doing in Storybrooke?" Anubis directly asked the ruler of the Land of the Remembered.

"Maria and I intentionally came to this town through the second Dark Curse after thirty years of searching throughout the Enchanted Forest for our husbands to no avail," she said. "Of course, I had a protection spell to prevent San Angel to be affected and brought here."

"And we didn't know about your presence here until now because?" Regina asked.

"Gods try to hide their presence among mortals. Besides, I avoid meddling in mortal affairs."

"Sure," Anubis said skeptically. "And your husband still interferes with mortal affairs? Don't start thinking that I and the other gods were aware of the last bet you two had together!"

"Xibalba has had his mistakes," La Muerte said.

"He did contribute by sending Manolo's ancestors to help defeat bandits that raided San Angel," Maria joined in. "And the last time we heard of him, he intervened by helping Manolo stop the Evil Queen's soldiers from attacking our town!"

"So where is he?" Anubis demanded. "Because…"

" _HE'S IN PANDORA'S BOX, DADDY!"_ Rosetta screamed out loud. Everyone stared at her, especially her parents, for this was the first time Rosetta was ever heard shouting in a way that definetly said 'Shut up'. It was even more startling that Rosetta just shouted at her father, an ancient god, like this.

"Rosetta…" Marion began saying sternly.

"No, mommy!" Rosetta cut in, shocking her mother. "I'm _sick_ of people treating me like a freak or helpless little girl with freaky powers who needs to be protected every single day of my life!"

"After what the Batrishan did to you?" Anubis snarled as a dark aura began to gloom over him. "You expect me to sit there and…" He stopped snarling and glowing when, sacrilegiously, Fidget the Bat flew like a flash and slapped the god on the cheek. People gasped.

"Two things I want to point out," he said slightly angry. "Number one: everybody look at Rosetta."

They did as he said and their faces were covered in guilt and pity when they saw Rosetta, being comforted by La Muerte, looking at her father with fear on her face. The god now felt ashamed at what he just did.

"Rosie," Regina gasped. She gave the demigod a hug, which the latter returned. Seeing the Evil Queen warmly hug a child surprised Maria.

"Why on earth do you look down upon her like this?" the Batrishan said. "She's might be just an eight-year-old girl, but she has served so much to this town." He held his hand at Henry. "Have you forgotten, Henry, how she showed you her vision of my arrival in Storybrooke, which pushed you to figure out a way to stop me?"

"I never forgot that moment," Henry said quietly.

"And what about the time when she helped you figure how to help the amnesic Fairy Queen Marianne?" Fidget continued as he addressed Regina and Mary Margaret, who looked at him in acknowledgement. "Or when she figured out how to get your boyfriend and best friend out of the grass-snake's belly?" He held his hand out to Emma before addressing Rosetta. "Or how you made me snap in order to prevent me from throwing you out of the town line?"

Rosie gave him a thankful smile. He returned the gesture before going back to Anubis. "Your daughter is unique, Lord Anubis. Don't deprive her of her life by being so overprotective."

"What do _you_ know about overprotectiveness?" Anubis asked coldly.

"It killed my mother." Fidget's eyes were beginning to water. "She and my father thought that hiding the truth about my heritage and how they… found me with my health condition, would salvage and give me a better life. But I found out the truth when I was six, they told me the truth and gave me independence, and then I ended up bidding my mother farewell four years later when the malaria hit her and she told me to be myself!"

Tears had poured out of the Batrishan's eyes. Many cried at his speech.

"You're…not that heartless," Emma sighed.

"I might be a villain and a jerk," he said as he wiped off the tears of his face, "but I'm not _that_ heartless!"

"Enough of this," David said, who was barely touched by the emotional moment. "What's your second point?"

"Oh, the second point is that you should check out Pandora's Box to see if what Rosie said is true and Xibalba is in the box because I have no clue if whether or not I might have something to do with it because Amanda Gold claims that I used it and the Medal of Everlasting Life in a bargain with the ex-Dark One."


	15. Poison Bitten Heart

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 15: Poison Bitten Heart

 _Flashback: San Angel, a couple hours after the bandits attacked_

Snow waited quietly by the statue of the late Captain Mendragon until she saw Manolo running towards her. She got up, concerned, until she saw that his face was full of glee.

"Well, what did she say?" Snow asked. After getting some persuasion from Anita Sanchez and Snow, Manolo decided one more time to tell Maria how he felt about her.

"I asked her to meet me at dawn at the little bridge for something important," he said. "And she said yes!" He then started heading down the road. "Come on, Snow! I'm gonna need your help!"

"What's your plan?" she asked as they ran, dodging nearby pigeons.

"At dawn, the lights of the sunrise reflect upon the town like a thousand _diamantes de cristal_ ," he said. "Every morning ever since Maria left for Spain, I'd go to the tree just outside of town and wait until dawn to see those lights and remember how much I love Maria."

"That's so romantic!" Snow sighed as they arrived at the bridge...mostly out of breath. "What can I help with?"

Manolo showed her a bag that was placed just by the small gate of the town. He grabbed it and untied the knot, showing Snow a ton of small candles. He then pulled out six and began to line them up by the right edge of the bridge.

"We'll create a candle trail that leads across the bridge and towards the tree," Manolo said. "When Maria arrives, the candles will be burning..."

"And it's going to be like lights are guiding her towards her true love." Snow smiled. "You're very creative, Manolo. Let's get to work, _amigo_."

They proceeded into the preparations. While Manolo was busy setting up the candles on the bridge and on the main ground, Snow lighted them one by one. Eventually, to increase the romantic atmosphere, they hung up a few candles on the tree and lighted them.

"Manolo...this is amazing!" Snow said in amazement when she saw the light show they had created. "Maria is going to love it!"

"I cannot thank you enough for the encouraging and help you have given me, Snow," Manolo said gratefully. "For that, I will never forget our friendship."

"I won't forget either, Manolo." Snow looked at the sky. "I'd better go back to your house before Maria arrives!"

To that she ran (as carefully as she could) back to the town.

 _Later on in the morning_

Snow had been giving a good scrub to her steed back in the Sanchez stables until she heard someone scream: "HELP!" Abandoning her activity, she ran outside right when it began raining and saw General Posada, two of his men, and Joaquín run.

She ran after them. "What's going on?" she shouted.

"We just heard Manolo scream for help from right outside San Angel, Señora Snow!" Joaquín said.

 _Oh, no!_ Snow thought in horror as she and the men ran through the rain. _Has something horrible happened to Manolo and Maria?_

They reached the bridge with Joaquín and Snow at the lead and stop by the time they reached the middle. They watched as the mist ahead of them dissolved and Manolo, with a grieving look on his face, carried a dead-looking Maria in his arms.

"Oh God..." Snow cupped her mouth in order to hold back a cry.

"What have you done?" Joaquín exclaimed when he saw the dead Maria.

"It was a snake..." Manolo said heartbrokenly. "It..."

"Maria!" General Posada pushed aside Snow and Joaquín and had a horrified look when he saw his dead daughter in his arms. "OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!" He grabbed Maria's body away from Manolo and gave a dark glare at the bullfighter. " _You_! This is your doing! Leave, or else I...!" He broke into tears as thunder clapped in the air. "My little _chica_. What have you done?" And he kept saying that as he headed back towards the town.

"It should have been me," Manolo said mournfully.

"Yes. It should have." Joaquín looked angrily at his childhood friend before he and the rest of the men headed back to town, leaving Manolo and Snow out in the rain.

"Manolo, what happened while Maria was with you?" Snow asked as he walked towards the tree to fetch his guitar.

"I showed her the lights..."

 _"It's beautiful," Maria gasped at the sight of the reflective lights illuminating San Angel once the sun rose._

 _"That warmth you're feeling?" Manolo said as he held her close. "It's how I feel whenever when I'm around you." Maria turned to face him and gasped when she saw him bend down on one knee before her as if he was going to propose. But he didn't._

 _"I have no ring to offer you," he said. "I have nothing to give except my love for you."_

 _"Oh Manolo!"_

 _"I may not be the town hero, Maria. But I_ _ **swear**_ _with all my heart that I will never stop loving you."_

 _A happy Maria knelt down in front of him so that their eyes could meet and said: "And I will never stop loving the man who plays from the heart..." Her eyes then went down to see a two-headed snake with one of the heads on the verge of biting Manolo's heel._

 _"A snake!" she exclaimed. "Look out Manolo!" She pushed her lover out of the way, only for the snake to bite her on the foot and Maria to scream in pain._

 _"Maria!" Manolo cried, but it was too late. The love of his life had fallen dead to the ground._

"Manolo, I'm so sorry..." Snow said tearfully as the brokenhearted bullfighter picked up his guitar.

"Now I'll never see Maria again," he said.

" _Are you certain about that?_ " a voice said as the thunder clapped and a terrifying shadowed appeared in front of them. " _Do you really wish to be with Maria again?_ " it asked Manolo.

"With all my heart," Manolo answered.

"Uh, Manolo..." Snow said. The humans turned to see the most inhuman thing ever: some sort of dark humanoid with a skull and flame motif conquistador outfit. Its neck and eyes were sickly green while the irises in his green eyes were shaped like red skulls. A white beard and mustache trailed downward like a waterfall of ruined cotton. Dark angel wings hung on its back and a horned silver crown sat on its head. But the two most disturbing parts in Snow's perspective? The creature looked it was made of tar and other sorts of icky stuff and seemed to be just as tall as the lady with the large sombrero hat Snow had met last night.

" _Think of what you're saying, my boy_ ," the creature told Manolo and crossed it arms. Manolo was busy staring at a few carved words on his guitar that he did not notice what Snow did: the creature giving away a smug grin as if it were playing some sort of game.

"Manolo! Don't!" Snow shouted. But it was too late: the young man, so desperate to be reunited with his true love, said the words once more: "With...all...my heart."

" _Done_ ," the creature said. It snapped its fingers and a purple snake appeared at Manolo's feet. To the humans' shock, it was the same two-headed snake that had bitten Maria. Only each head bit Manolo on the foot.

"NO!" Snow cried as she saw her friend fall to the ground, looking as dead as Maria had. She turned to face the creature. "How _could_ you?"

" _Easy there, Princess Snow White_ ," the creature said. " _You wouldn't attack a god and suffer the consequences, would you?_ "

Snow froze. "You...you know who I am?"

The creature leaned in and gave her a deadly glare, indicating Snow that it meant business. " _Yes. And mark my words, if you slip even one word about me to anyone in this town, you will suffer things far worse than the bite of a two-headed snake._ "

The creature then transformed into a goop of tar that flew away into the storm, leaving Snow to run back to San Angel.


	16. Free The God And The Bullfighter

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 16: Free The God And The Bullfighter

"Chains," Fidget muttered. "How delightful."

Everyone was at Mr. Gold's pawnshop the next day, and by everyone, that meant Emma, Killian, Regina, David, Mary Margaret, Henry, Gold, Belle, their daughter Amanda, the Romanovs, Maria, La Muerte, and lastly Fidget. La Muerte, well-intentioned as she was, had placed magical chains onto the Batrishan to prevent him from any...sort of rebellion. Although it was pretty clear to everyone in the room that he could easily break those chains, Fidget didn't budge a bit.

"Not too uncomfortable?" Rosetta asked him sincerely as they waited for Mr. Gold to bring out Pandora's Box.

"I've seen worse." Fidget shrugged. "So, remind me again why you nearly overloaded the Book Of Life?"

"I...tried to complete an uncompleted sentence on the last page."

Fidget stared at her before giving her a disappointed head shake. "Drugging siblings, lying to your parents, hanging out with a homicidal maniac, and now scribbling on a sacred manuscript? At your age? What's next, stealing candy from a baby?"

Belle held Amanda tightly in her arms while the baby was busy toying with a rattle.

"Rosetta, is there something you're not telling us?" Marion crossed her arms and gave a glare at her daughter. Feeling defeated, Rosetta took a deep breath and spilled the beans out, from finding the Book Of Life under her bed to the events of last night; she even included the part of her drugging Ared and lying about going to the library.

Once she was done, Anubis was pinching his nose in frustration. "Great Osiris Almighty, what am I _ever_ going to do with you? I can't even spend one normal week without you sneaking and being dishonest behind my back!"

"Reminds me of the days when Henry tried to help Emma break the first curse," Regina chuckled.

"Uh, speaking of me scribbling in the Book Of Life," Rosetta addressed La Muerte nervously. "Am I going to get in trouble for it?"

The goddess said nothing at first, as she was obviously reminiscing over memories of her beloved Xibalba while her white fingers trailed over the Medal Of Everlasting Life. She didn't look furious or anything at all. Just...serene and calm, as if she already knew how the future would turn out.

"The Book reacted to your action without any ominous signs, which must be a warning of your future," she said. "Such a question must be asked to the Candlemaker once the Book is returned to him. In the meantime, let us worry about two things first: freeing Xibalba and Manolo from the Box and having a chat with Fitzgerald's patron."

"Oh that will be fun," Fidget said drily.

"Your patron must have had a reason for erasing your memories, along with those of the Dark One, about your 'deal' with Rumplestiltskin and escape death so easily."

"So, if I'm getting this straight, Fidget here is working for a god?" David asked incredulously.

"Let's hope it isn't Hades," Regina said sarcastically.

"That's not the way patrons work, Regina," Anubis told Regina. "Occasionally, a god is chosen to supervise the life of one specific mortal, and in exchange for such guidance, the mortal must repay his or her debt by being the god's follower or servant."

"That seems rather unfair," Emma commented.

"Ms. Swan, nothing in life is fair. It certainly wasn't fair for me to patronize a mortal that ended up bringing Atlantis to its doom."

La Muerte made a disgusted look. "I remember that year. There was so much to clean up."

Mr. Gold finally came out from his office with Pandora's Box in his hands. "I recommend you stay back while I try to summon our two rogues."

"Manolo isn't a rogue!" Maria protested, but Mr. Gold ignored her. Everyone backed away as he placed the box on the floor and began to unlock the secure locks of the box.

"Are you sure you can summon Xibalba and Manolo from out of the box without any magic, Grandpa?" Henry asked him.

"While magic contains the box's hostages from within, only an outside desire can 'legally' free the prisoners. In this case, if I desire to free Xibalba and Manolo, then the box will 'legally' let them go," Mr. Gold assured his grandson.

"Then we'll give you space," Emma said. She gestured everyone to take a step back. Mr. Gold, in the meantime, had his eyes focused onto the box as if he were doing some sort of mental prayer. The red smoke that appeared whenever the box was opened made its appearance, causing ghostly hisses. Maria shivered at the sight of it; fortunately, Mary Margaret held her hand in comfort, giving her a promising smile.

Then came the scariest part: a twister of tar making its way out of the box. For a moment, seeing the twister hiss and glow in green lights frightened everyone. They almost thought it was the same darkness that had created the Dark One coming out of the box. The horror show went on until finally, the twister dissolved and two figures could be seen laying on the floor: one appeared to be a young man in a bullfighting outfit carrying swords and a guitar on his back while the other looked like a white-bearded demon version of tar.

"W...what's going on? Where are we?" the young man asked as he rubbed his messy dark hair.

"MANOLO!" Maria cried as she rushed towards him. His eyes brightened at the sight of her.

"MARIA, MY LOVE!" Manolo exclaimed. Everyone watched as the couple embraced one another into a tearful kiss.

"It's great to see you again, Manolo," Mary Margaret said as Maria helped her husband get up.

"Snow?" Manolo looked surprised as Mary Margaret gave him a confirming nod. "You look different. I thought you had longer hair." Chuckles were heard.

"Things have changed, _amigo_. I've become a mother and a grandmother."

"You don't look old enough to be a grandmother."

A groan was heard. Everyone turned to see La Muerte tending to the other rogue, who must be none other than Xibalba. "Balby, it's me," she said.

" _Mi amor?_ " Xibalba's red eyes widened at the sight of the sombrero wielding goddess. " _Mi amor, can it be you?_ "

"It is." The two gods proceeded to embrace and kiss one another as well.

"Licorice kissing tar?" Rosetta stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I'll add it to the list of creepy things I've seen throughout my life."

"What was the worst?" Fidget asked curiously. Unfortunately for him, Manolo and Xibalba's heads perked up at the sound of his voice, and once they saw him, anger and hatred could be seen on them.

" **You** ," Manolo spat. "You put us in the box."

"Hold it there, mate..." Killian stood between him and Fidget.

" _While that Batrishan vermin still lives?_ " Xibalba sprouted his dark wings in anger. " _He was there when Queen Regina's men were in the desert. Manolo and most of San Angel's men left the town to prevent the black knights from invading. I chose to interfere by lending Manolo the Medal Of Everlasting Life so that he could make it out alive. But as soon as I appeared, I got cornered by a black knight, who turned out to be none other than him!"_

He pointed an angry finger at Fidget, who started to look helpless in his chains while everyone was shocked by the story.

" _He had me weakened by trapping me in a circle of anti-magicnesium, a mineral that can neutralize magic, even divine, for a while. The Batrishan tried to trap me into Pandora's Box while I was weakened. Just when he had unlocked the box, Manolo had arrived and tried to pull me out, but b doing so, he was condemn to join me inside the box as a prisoner for more than 30 years!'_

"As much as I don't remember any of this," Fidget said as stiffly as he could, "it definetly sounds like something I would do."

"Oh, please!" Manolo snorted. "You're going to start telling us that you lost your memory?"

"Actually, Manolo, it did happen," La Muerte said as she walked over to the chained Batrishan. "His patron intentionally removed both his and the DARK One's memories of the event."

" _Why would she do that_?" Xibalba frowned.

"SHE?" all the humans and Anubis asked in unison. Fidget's entire life had been supervised by a goddess he now served? But who?

"That's what we'll ask her very soon." Rosetta said.


	17. Enter Fidget's Patron

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 17: Enter Fidget's Patron

"How horrible was it?" Maria asked Manolo as they all headed towards the Town Hall, where La Muerte and Xibalba would summon Fidget's patron. "How was it to be inside Pandora's box?"

"You don't want to know," Manolo told his wife. "Honestly, you don't. It's probably ten times worse than the Land Of The Forgotten, where the dead eventually dissolve into ash from being forgotten by the living."

"The box seemed like a world made of endless red mist," Henry said quietly, which got the attention of the married couple. "But no matter where you put your feet in, you could never see what you'd step into. The more you walked, the more it seemed like you were walking endless mountains that never stopped coming out of the darkness. Everywhere, there were screams."

"You've been there too," Manolo concluded.

All the adults who came from Storybrooke during the First Curse shuddered at the memory of when they came back from Neverland and Peter Pan, in order to get what he desired, had switched bodies with Henry right when Rumplestiltskin had tried to lock 'Peter Pan' within the box, not realizing that 'Peter Pan' was actually hosting Henry. Now that Emma and Regina thought about it, they had never asked Henry about his experience inside Pandora's Box.

"Have you ever the 100 screams?" Manolo asked Henry.

"The box was full of individuals desperate to get out and get back at those who locked them in." Henry frowned. "Which 100 are we talking about?"

"The ones _he_ locked." Manolo pointed angrily at Fidget, who was still chained and walking between La Muerte and Xibalba as if he were a prisoner being taken to prison by two guards. Killian trailed behind them.

"When Xibalba and I were inside the box, we met 99 villains who've been trapped by the Batrishan as part of a bargain he made with the Dark One. Apparently, Xibalba was meant to be the 100th villain to be captured, but because of my interference, the Batrishan ended up capturing 101 prisoners overall. His captives were _furious_ : they tried banging on invisible wall or cages and scream for revenge, but none of them were ever heard. They would have paid any price for just ripping his heart out."

"And I thought the Underworld was worse," Regina muttered.

"Your Highness, I've traveled through _two_ different afterlife realms just to claim my life back." Manolo's face looked rather nostalgic at the thought of his endless pursuit to get his life back on the Land Of The Living just so that he could be reunited with Maria. "I know what being dead is like. Those who were trapped inside Pandora's Box...they weren't dead. They were very much alive and doomed to spend an ageless eternity by doing nothing but scream and demand vengeance upon those who've locked them in."

They entered the main room of the Town Hall, where most of the town gatherings took place. But since there was no town meeting, there were no rows of chairs. Once the leading party arrived at the center of the room, La Muerte snapped her fingers and Fidget's chains dissolved into marigold petals. Fidget didn't react at all, much to everyone's surprise, even after Xibalba snapped his fingers and caused wooden vines to sprout out of the wooden floor and twist around Fidget's wrists, neck, and ankle(s) until it looked like the Batrishan was bound to a chair made of dried vines.

"Well that's disturbing," Marion said.

"And I thought that Regina's trick was deadlier," David added until Regina and Mary Margaret both gave him a glare that said 'Now's not the time to joke.'

"So what now?" Belle asked as she held on to a sleeping Amanda while Mr. Gold put his arm behind her back for protection.

" _We summon his patron_ ," Xibalba said, " _by ripping out his heart._ " His red eyes gleamed with sadistic satisfaction at the Batrishan, who once again remained calmed.

"Xibalba, wait a minute!" La Muerte exclaimed right when her husband began aiming at Fidget's chest. But right when he did, some sort of purple, magical force field appeared, blocking Xibalba's aim and sending him flying onto the nearest wall. Tar could be seen staining it.

"OK, for that one I'm going to go straight away and say that you deserved it." Anubis shrugged.

"What just happened?" Rosetta asked. Ignoring her parents' protective grasp, she rushed to check on Fidget. This time, he slightly grimaced as the force field remained over him until it faded away.

"You put a protection spell on your heart?" Emma asked Fidget. He didn't say anything.

" _That was just one of the results of his endless pursuit for revenge_ ," a voice said. All heads turned to see somebody standing in front of the main platform's blue curtains. It was a woman who could have been around Emma's age, except her pale skin showed no single sign of a wrinkle; her dark swirly green eyes flickered from the sunlight coming through the windows, her lips were covered with black lipstick, and her brown hair, accompanied by one magenta streak on the right side, was well-trimmed and cut just above the shoulders. She wore a dark green pea coat with golden buttons and belt clasp, black leggings, and thigh high-heeled boots with the same green color as the coat. In a few words, she was... _beautiful_.

"Kaïra?" Marion gasped.

"You know her?" Emma gasped.

"Let's just say she was well-acquainted with my parents."

"Oh, so that's the Nordic goddess who married your family friend, Steve Rogers?" Rosetta's eyes popped.

"Wait, Captain America exists?" Henry frowned. "And he's married to a goddess?"

"Alternate universe. Don't ask," Anubis insisted.

Meanwhile, La Muerte and Xibalba were speechless as they watched Kaïra walk down the platform and towards the center of her room. At each step she took, the air got colder as it hit the heroes' cheeks. Even Manolo had to hug Maria tightly in order to protect her from it.

"Milady," Fidget said quietly as he bowed his head in front of the goddess. Without even saying a word, Kaïra made a flicking away gesture with her black nail polished fingers at the Batrishan's vine chair. By doing so, it ended up dissolving into ashes and Fidget landed on a mound of ashes that looked like a human sized anthill. Rosetta slightly backed away.

" _Fitzgerald,_ " Kaïra said with a genuine smile on her face. It would seem very disturbing to others if they saw what she did next: placing one of her cold hands onto Fidget's hair and caressing it the same way a master strokes a beloved pet or a mother with her little toddler. " _You've grown up_."

"I'm eternally seventeen and the last time you saw me was half a year ago back in New York." Fidget frowned. "How exactly have I grown in such a little amount of time?"

It looked strange to those who were watching. Fidget, as ruthless and manipulative (yet occasionally sensitive) as he was, was addressing his patroness the same way a teenager dealing with hormones and puberty was talking sassily to his mother.

" _The same way as usual: by the fact that you're still the same, little Batrishan that I found abandoned in the woods as an infant."_

"So you're the one who made sure that he'd be dropped off at St. Alejandro's Chapel in order to be adopted by the Denada Cortés couple?" Rosetta blurted out in disbelief. Much to her misfortune, Kaïra's attention turned towards the little demigod who began to cringe. Right when it seemed like she was going to step towards her, Fidget's handicapped wing sprout open and separated the goddess from the child, giving Marion the opportunity to grab her daughter and pull her away from the scene.

" _I see you've increased your litter, Anubis,_ " Kaïra commented a serious-looking Anubis. " _But I thought you mostly gave birth to boys?_ "

"None of your business," Anubis snapped.

"OK, everyone hold your horses!" Emma made the time-out sign with her hands. "Marion, Anubis, exactly how the hell do you know her?"

"Like we said," Marion said as she held on to Rosetta. "Kaïra married my parents' friend, Steve Rogers..."

"And your parents were?"

"Hawkeye and Black Widow."

"Well that explains the Russian accent and archery skills," Henry commented.

"Kaïra was Loki and the Enchantress Amora's daughter and is the goddess of the neutral death," Anubis explained. "In other words, she ruled the dead who were neither honored nor dishonored during their lifespans. And like Marion said, Kaïra married Steve out of love for one another-matter of fact, she knew him since World War II. But then years ago, long before Rosie was born, a killing curse had been cast upon our allies by an enemy. Most of us were killed while Marion and I barely managed to escape by opening a portal leading to the Enchanted Forest..."

"I think we get the details, mate," Killian said. "The story of your life got bigger with your story."

"So you're just another death goddess like Anubis, Xibalba, and La Muerte?" Maria asked Kaïra.

" _Not quite_ ," Kaïra said grimly. Her fingers taped onto Fidget's head, prompting the Batrishan to fold his wing. The Storybrooke were quite shocked at the sight of their 'so-powerful' enemy acting like a docile lamb in front of the goddess.

"Speaking of death, Kaïra, I was hoping we could have a friendly chat concerning your champion," La Muerte interrupted politely.

" _Go for it. I'm all ears._ "

"300 years of being alive and committing endless crimes regardless of whether or not they were for his personal interests or not? Shouldn't he, you know, move on to the next life?"

" _A life in hell would be well-suited for him_ ," Xibalba suggested.

"Plus, it's getting annoying," David joined in. "He's trying to get revenge for something Killian didn't commit."

"OH, SO NOW IT'S ABOUT THE CODFISH BEING INNOCENT?" Fidget burst into rage as he got onto his feet. "BUT HIM ON TRIAL INSTEAD OF ME!"

" _There, there, Fitzgerald!_ " Kaïra scolded the Batrishan and stopped him from any further aggression as if he were still a mere child. " _You are correct though about the part of wanting to get back at the mean old pirate for ruining the perfect life you missed so much back in Aldorada._ "

Killian's mouth dropped. It was bad enough that his old friend didn't believe him about the death of Isabella and Hernan, but now Fidget's godly patron even believed so?

" _But it's true that wishing the pirate's death would be a complete waist of time,_ " Kaïra finished.

Now everyone in the room was shocked. The Batrishan was by far the most shocked. "But...but I thought-!" he stammered.

" _All in good time, Fitzgerald. True, revenge will be in your hands, but you've got a bigger revenge than the one you are seeking to take care of."_ Kaïra tapped the baffled Batrishan on the shoulder as if he were still a mere child. " _Don't worry, we'll talk more about it on your birthday._ " She then walked towards Xibalba and La Muerte. " _I know you most likely want Fitzgerald dead, but my legal documents prove otherwise._ " Out of thin air, she pulled a parchment inscribed in Nordic Runes and handed it to the two gods. They quickly glanced at one another and took a long, analyzing glance at the parchment. It took them about five minutes to read it all before coming with a conclusion.

"It's an official document, I'm afraid," La Muerte said. "A confirmation of Kaïra's patronizing Fitzgerald Denada Cortés until he fulfills what the Fates laid out for him. The document includes the signature of Kaïra and the All-Mother Friga, which makes the document legally binding."

"Did they use Stygian ink?" Rosetta asked.

"Stygian ink?" Mary Margaret looked confused.

"Ink made out of underworld tar and water from the River Styx. Sign any contract with Stygian ink and it becomes eternally binding."

" _Smart demigoddess. You raised her well, Anubis_ ," Xibalba told Anubis in an impressed tone before turning his angry glare back at Kaïra. " _This document might confirm your full possession of the Batrishan's soul, Kaïra, but I still demand payback from him stealing my medal."_

"Oh, so it was OK for you to use the medal to cheat your way into a bargain with La Muerte, but it's not OK for Fidget to use it for his own personal gain?" Mary Margaret snorted in disbelief.

"She's got you there," Manolo agreed.

" _Peace, everyone,_ " Kaïra said. " _I can offer something that some of you can't resist in order to forget the recent mishaps._ "

"And what might that be?" David asked.

To answer his question, Kaïra held out her hands and summoned a cloud of golden emerald magic, making it shape up in her hands until a cylindrical glass jar appeared. But it wasn't the jar that made everyone drop his or her jaw.

It was the content.

A small plant with only one, snow colored bean sprouting.

" _A ticket back to San Angel_." Kaïra smirked.


	18. Wedding & Departure

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 18: Wedding & Departure

 _Flashback: San Angel, who knows how much longer later_

Out of all the weddings, happily ever afters, and romantic reunions that Snow had ever witnessed, those that occurred at San Angel were by far the most memorable.

Starting from the top: after Manolo had been killed by the tar creature's snake, Snow had run back to San Angel and straight towards General Posada's mansion, where he, Joaquín, and the town nuns were mourning over the loss of Maria. She had bursted into the room in tears, announcing the death of Manolo Sanchez, who chose to die in order to join Maria in the afterlife. While they were all grieving for the two losses (including General Posada), Joaquín was by far the most devastated, for he had just lost his two childhood best friends, one of them being his crush and the other a friend he always respected despite his musical hobby and ended up stabbing him in the back when the latter needed him the most.

Right when Joaquín was grieving over Maria's body, the young woman suddenly woke up from her bed. It should have been a moment of rejoicing, except for the part where Maria cried at the news of Manolo's death and reluctantly agreed with her father that marrying Joaquín would be the best solution to ensure that he protected the town from the bandits led by Chakal.

Heartbroken by the sight of a destroyed romance, Snow had decided to leave the town while Carlos went to build a shrine outside of town in order to mourn and remember the loss of his only son. But right when Snow was getting her horse ready in the stables, Maria had come in and begged Snow to stay as a guest at the wedding as a memory of Manolo.

"He did love you, Maria," Snow had said when she gave the sad bride-to-be a comforting hug. "He loved you with _all_ his heart."

"I know," Maria had sobbed.

So Snow had joined the rest of the town to witness Maria and Joaquín's wedding at San Angel's church at the top of the town's highest hill, but before the vows could even be completed, the bandits, led by Chakal, invaded the town. It turned out that Joaquín had a medal of invincibility given to him by Xibalba, the tar creature who had Manolo killed, so that he could become undefeatable, and the bandit king wanted it so badly, even if it meant killing everyone. And right when it seemed like all hope was lost despite Joaquín and Maria's attempt to rally the town against Chakal, a resurrected Manolo had risen from the ground, along with the entire deceased Sanchez family (including Carlos and Anita, who both died from Chakal and cholesterol respectively).

Long story short: Manolo saved the town and killed Chakal, Joaquín chose to become a better person and hero and gave Xibalba his Medal Of Everlasting Life back, and Manolo and Maria were married in front of everyone (living, dead, and divine).

"Now that was an awesome Day Of The Dead!" the Candlemaker cheered. "Oh yeah!"

And it was quite a heck of a party involving singing and dancing and Manolo telling his adventures in the death realms in order to claim his life back. Even the Book Of Life showed the pages giving away the proof.

As much as Snow wanted to stay and join her friends' festivities, she knew she couldn't stay. She had her own quest to take care of, and she knew that unless she left, the quest would never be complete.

The streets of San Angel were quiet compared to the loud festivities occurring at the church, and the more Snow walked away from the church and closer to the Sanchez stables, the quieter the streets got.

" _Leaving so soon?_ " a voice coming from the stables asked. Snow stopped in her tracks, her eyes looking angry when she saw Xibalba make his way out of the stables while pulling her horse by the reins. His gloved hands made of tar handed her the reins, which she took brutally.

" _Didn't know that princesses could be so brutal_."

"Says the god who cheated a bargain against his wife," Snow hissed back. Manolo had told the details during the party on how Manolo and Joaquín's competition for Maria's hand was all part of a bargain the two Aztec death gods had made, and Xibalba had unfairly betted that Joaquín would be the winner.

"And let's hope you don't act unfairly once more," Snow remarked. "After all, and I quote your words: 'if you slip even one word about me to anyone in this town, you will suffer things far worse than the bite of a two-headed snake.' And did I say anything? No."

Xibalba made a sour face, which looked rather weird, a mouth made of tar and slimy green lights gritting its teeth. " _Indeed I did. Usually, I'd send you to the afterlife for acting impertinent in front of me, but I've reconciled with my wife, so I'll keep my hands to myself._ "

"Your wife?"

Xibalba rolled his eyes. " _La Muerte, duh._ "

Snow's mouth dropped. La Muerte, ruler of the Land Of The Remembered and the goddess who won her wager against Xibalba, was his wife? Okay, Snow had heard the term 'opposites attract', but this was by far the most disturbing shipping that Snow had ever heard of.

"Well...I'm...happy for you," Snow struggled to say as she clung on to her horse's reins. "I guess I should get going."

" _Well look on the bright side,_ " Xibalba said with a smug. " _If you die, it won't be by my hands. And now that I think about it, even if you were dead, you wouldn't make it to The Land Of The Forgotten since you aren't Mexican._ "

"I'm flattered, but I doubt that I will easily let Regina kill me."

" _Who was talking about Regina? If you die, Snow White, it will be from the hands of something much darker than a mere evil queen. And not just that, but your death will also lead to the instant downfall of your legacy."_

Xibalba then dissolved into a puddle of tar that slithered away from the stables and into the darks of a nearby alley, leaving Snow to be petrified by what he had said: _if you die, Snow White, it will be from the hands of something much darker than a mere evil queen. And not just that, but your death will also lead to the instant downfall of your legacy._ This couldn't possibly mean the end of Snow's lineage, would it? Was it Xibalba cursing her?

Snow pushed that thought in the back of her head and hopped on her horse. She began galloping down the streets of San Angel until she reached the bridge, where she saw Maria, Manolo, and Joaquín (who was now wearing an eye patch over his left eye) were waiting for her.

"You didn't think we'd let you leave without telling you goodbye, did you, _amiga_ ," Manolo said.

Snow grinned. She held out her hand and Manolo took it, shaking it.

"I'll never forget you guys," Snow said as she hand shook Maria and Joaquín one at a time after she was done with Manolo.

"And we will never forget you, Señorita Snow," Joaquín said as he gave her a gentlemanly bow.

"Know that you will always be welcome in San Angel," Maria said.

"The town of the remembered." Snow smiled as she shook her horse's reins. The beast began galloping onto the bridge and into the desert. Snow looked one more time at San Angel as it faded away behind her back. " _Adios, amigos!_ " she shouted.

" _Adios!_ " they shouted back.


	19. Adios

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 19: Adios

The San Angel people were by far the most tempted in the room when Kaïra showed them the single bean and offered a way back to San Angel. The goddess slightly smirked at the twisted deal she was just making.

"If we accept to forget this ever happened," La Muerte made things clear, "we'll go back to San Angel."

" _I had a chat with the Candlemaker_ ," Kaïra said. Her fingernails were tapping onto the glass jar. " _Once the portal is open, he will await you and send you back to San Angel. So, considering my offer or not?_ "

The Aztec gods and the San Angel mortal couple glanced at one another, their eyes filled with insecurity and doubt. Could this possibly be their way back home?

" _I don't have all day._ " Kaïra started to get impatient. Finally, an answer came.

"We accept the offer," Manolo said.

" _Done,_ " Kaïra said. She plucked the bean out of the plant and tossed it in the air. A golden portal appeared in the air, and surprisingly didn't cause the usual wind issues whenever a portal was open. A golden bearded man floated his down, keeping the portal open.

"Candlemaker!" Manolo gasped in an excited tone.

"Manolo, my man!" The Candlemaker and Manolo gave one another a high-five. "Long time no see! Came to pick you guys up to take you back home!"

"Great to see you, Candlemaker," La Muerte and Xibalba said in unison. At the mention of the new god's name, the Book Of Life emerged out of La Muerte's large hat and began flying towards the Candlemaker like a puppy running at its master.

"Bookie! There you are! I was wondering where you were!" To answer the Candlemaker, the Book opened itself and began flipping its pages rapidly until it stopped in one area. " _Santa Chihuahua!_ I can't believe it!"

"Can't believe what?" Emma asked.

"Oh, Emma, you're not gonna believe this either!"

"He knows everybody's names," Manolo whispered to Regina. "Don't ask."

"Congratulations, kiddo!" Candlemaker grabbed Rosetta's hand and began shaking it to the point where the little girl was literally being shaken off the floor. Marion had to grab her child in order to prevent the Candlemaker from giving her a headache. "You've been selected as the next recorder!"

"SAY WHAT?" everyone in the room said.

"The recorder, silly!" Candlemaker held out the Book Of Life in front of Rosetta. "Kiddo, how do you think the stories get into the Book Of Life? They don't appear out of thin air just like that. No, they need to be _written_ and _depicted_ by someone."

"I thought that was Henry's job as the Author," Belle said in confusion.

"Yeah, otherwise how do you explain his book?" Killian joined in.

"Dude, the book Henry has is like a record book out of a _million_ across the mortal populations," Candlemaker said. "But the Book Of Life is the eternal recorder for _gods_ that lasts forever."

"And me in all of this?" Rosetta asked.

Candlemaker flipped the book's pages in front of her. "Kiddo, you see things that no other mortals can. You have advanced foresight. That's why you have visions of the past, present, and future. Only advanced foresighters like you can be selected by the Book Of Life to record the stories for it."

"I don't think I still get it. Why me out of all the advanced foresighters in the universe?"

"Because out of all the advanced foresighters in the universe, you are among those who have a blood history from the four major branches: Nordic, Greek, Egyptian, and Roman," La Muerte stepped in. "Your father is Anubis, an Ancient Egyptian god. Your mother's paternal grandfather was the celestial god Perseus, son of Zeus, and the Romanov family has been the descendants of Odin and Mars for generations. Through such blood heritage and your advanced foresight gifts, the Book Of Life chose you as the next recorder."

"So that's why I found it under my bed and it reacted when I tried writing in it!" Rosetta realized. "But why is it doing this now? I'm only eight!"

" _Beats me_ ," Xibalba said. " _We're minor gods, since hardly anyone takes account of us Aztec gods unlike the major ones like those from your bloodline. It's not our fault they wanted minors like us to babysit the Book!"_

Fidget facepalmed himself. "As much as I enjoy watching Choosing Ceremonies and people being reunited," he began calmly before proceeding to a very loud tone that caused even the gods to cover their ears, " **CAN YOU PLEASE JUST GO BACK HOME AND THAT WAY WE CAN FINISH THIS STORY?** "

" _Calm down, Fitzgerald_ ," Kaïra said calmly. " _They'll leave as soon as they make their goodbyes._ "

The Mexicans sighed in frustration about being pressured to leave. The farewells were then made.

"So what's gonna happen to your restaurant once you leave?" Emma asked while she and Killian were giving their goodbyes to La Muerte.

"It will disappear, sadly," La Muerte said. "I used magic to create it as a cover for me and Maria until we could figure out a way back home."

"Well that's a tragedy," Killian joked. "The food was great." The two women chuckled at his joke.

" _Take extreme caution whenever you're around your child,_ " Xibalba warned the Golds. His tar fingers pointed at Amanda, who was giving the god a sharp look that was odd for an infant. " _The darkness within her is stronger than you can imagine. Even now, she's thinking quite authentically despite her young age and currently fragile body._ "

"Lord Xibalba, isn't there _any_ way we can avoid Amanda becoming evil?" Belle begged as she clung on to her child.

" _I'm afraid not._ _That's the problem with children born from the Dark One: they become unpredictably evil and are always part of the worst rogues gallery."_ Xibalba turned to Rumple. " _Your late son Baelfire was born before you were the Dark One, so that's why he and your grandson Henry didn't display any sign of evilness despite being related to you once you became the Dark One. However, Amanda was produced_ **while** _you were still the Dark One and barely a few weeks before the darkness was removed from you, which still caused her to inherit your former Dark One powers._ "

"Would preventing her from doing too much mischief perhaps slow down her evil transition?" Rumple asked.

" _Beats me. Maybe it will delay a bit, but she'll still end up turning evil. Don't get me started with the son of one of your predecessors. God, he turned out so bad that he caused the Black Plague to kill more people than it should have. And that's when he literally became the Dark One through parricide."_

So it seemed like the Golds were out of luck: even if they could delay her transition, Amanda would still grow up evil. Now they could only hope that she didn't decide to go all Dark One like Rumplestiltskin.

"So we're clear, kiddo. Right?" Candlemaker told Rosetta.

"Write down any event that occurs, vision or current event, and burn it as a offering to the Book Of Life at the end of every month," Rosetta made a resume. "Shouldn't be any different from turning over a book report."

"Uh, about that," Candlemaker chuckled nervously as he elbowed a shaking Book Of Life. "Bookie is sorry that he disintegrated the book you were supposed to read for your school report in order for you to find him under your bed."

Rosetta's mouth briefly dropped. So Bookie was the reason why she couldn't find her book. "It's OK. Fidget gave me a copy of the book."

Anubis sighed in frustration. "I hate to say this, but you owe the Batrishan a thank you card."

"That won't be necessary," Fidget said with a grin as he quickly patted Rosie on the head. "She's already sweet and annoying enough."

"Consider annoying and being sweet to you as one of my top priorities until I turn eighteen," Rosie said in a teasing tone.

"Great Ashiva, you're going to be like this towards me for the next decade?"

"She's already been like this to us for eight years," Marion said. "The feeling is mutual."

Meanwhile, Manolo and Maria were making their goodbyes to Mary Margaret.

"We hope to see you soon, Snow," Manolo said. "I can't believe that almost thirty years have passed and you already have a family of your own."

"Yeah," Mary Margaret agreed. "It was tough at first, being separated from my family thanks to the Dark Curses. But we always find one another. It worked out for me, and now it worked out for you two."

"There something I should have mentioned a bit ago," Maria said. Her hands held those of Manolo and turned him towards her. "Manolo, I know you missed out on this, but after time unfroze from the first curse, I gave birth."

"What?" Manolo was shocked.

" _Si, mi amor_. Shortly after you left San Angel to chase away Regina's men, I realized that I was a few weeks expecting. But with the curse coming, La Muerte had placed a protection spell on San Angel to prevent it from being cursed. We were saved alright, but time froze, thus delaying my pregnancy. I then gave birth seven months after time was unfrozen. But when the second curse was enacted, La Muerte and I were the only ones unprotected from the curse, thus leaving our child under my father's care."

"I'm...I'm a father?" Manolo asked tearfully.

"Yes. A little girl named Nieva Manuela."

Snow smiled at the sight. Maria had named her daughter after her beloved husband and their remembered friend, Snow White. This was a touching seen.

The Mexicans then proceeded to hop into the portal, wishing the best of luck to everyone. Manolo was the last to leave. " _Adios, amigos_!"

"Know that you will always be welcomed in Storybrooke!" Mary Margaret called out.

"The town of the remembered!" Manolo called out one was time before hopping into the portal. It closed, leaving the Storybrooke habitants, Fidget, and Kaïra standing alone in the room.

" _Well, I got other calls to make_ ," Kaïra said. She snapped her fingers and two purple stones appeared, one in Fidget's hands and the other in Rumple's. " _Here are your memories concerning the deal you two have made. And Fitzgerald, I'm warning you. If you take those memories back, then things won't be any easier for you._ "

"Geesh, milady." Fidget rolled his eyes. "When the Hell was my life any easier? And I still don't see why you bothered to remove my memories concerning this deal I made."

" _Impertinent as usual_ ," Kaïra grumbled. " _And to think that you're only fifteen years younger than me. The reason I took away your memories was because they emitted the evil that you were developing while locking away 100 villains inside Pandora's Box. Such dark energy could have easily attracted the Evil One. And you know how he feels about your kind."_

"Oh." While everyone was confused at what was going on, Fidget's face dropped with realization. "My apologies, milady. I've failed to take your deeds into consideration."

Kaïra placed a pale hand underneath his chin. " _My actions might not have been so grand, Fitzgerald, but they've been on the sole purpose from protecting and granting you the one thing the Evil One stole from your people: life."_ Green smoke followed by golden sparkles began to surround her as she began to teleport away. " _I'll come back to check up on you in August._ "

"A patron since she was fifteen." Anubis pinched his nose in disbelief. "I can't believe it."

Fitzgerald was standing in the center of the room, still dismayed by what Kaïra had said about him dealing with a revenge that was much worth of his time than the revenge he sought against Killian. Internally, he felt stabbed.

"Fitzgerald..." Killian reached his hand out for the Batrishan until the latter surprisingly swished his clawed hand at the pirate, slapping him roughly on the face along with cutting through the skin with his claws.

"KILLIAN!" Emma cried. She grabbed her boyfriend before he could hit the floor while Regina summoned a fireball and David pulled out his gun.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" Regina demanded.

"My life being wasted, that's what's wrong with me!" Fidget shouted. His angry irises turned towards Killian, whose hand was covering the four scratches on his face. "Whether you killed my loved ones or not, you still ruined my life by stepping into it! I'm nearly 300 years old, codfish! **300 GOD FUCKING YEARS!** And I spent 283 years of life trying to kill you, cursing my own sense of humanity and darkening myself at the price of selling my soul while we're at it! I became a villain for the sake of crushing your heart in my hands! And now I'm told by my patroness, whom I own my life even in the next one, that getting back at you wasn't worth it! I wasted 283 of my life and became evil **because of you!** "

This was the first time they were seeing Fidget in such a rage. The red marks on his eyes had a wrinkled appearance whenever his golden eyes and red irises were fuming with anger. His fanged teeth gritted rather roughly as if he were a shark instead. His wings and ears stood out straight with intimidation and his fists were clenched. He did not look like this when he had handed Rosetta back after trying to kidnap her during his first appearance.

"Three words, Killian Jones." His voice sounded venomous whenever he said those words. "Leave. Me. Alone. Don't come near, don't talk to me, and don't even bother to try to rekindle or fake friendship!"

He began storming his way out of the room. Before he opened the door, he snapped at Rumple and Belle: "You know, I sincerely hope that your Amanda becomes the Dark One to ruin you all, because she's given me as much headaches as the codfish!"

He slammed the door shut, leaving Killian to actually sob in Emma's arms.


	20. Aftermath

The Towns of The Remembered:

Chapter 20: Aftermath

Who knew what on earth the heroes were doing. Maybe they were having lunch at Granny's to celebrate Rosie's promotion or having successfully sent their friends from San Angel back home. Or maybe they were talking about how disturbing Fidget was and what they were going to do about him.

Right now, Fidget didn't give a damn. He needed to exclude himself from the Storybrooke as much as he could. He couldn't leave the town since his patron wanted him to stay in the town and honestly he hated the Land Without Magic, he didn't want to be anywhere near the codfish or his allies, but now that he thought about it, he didn't want to continue hiding in the woods and a cave as if he were some wild animal. After all, Aldoradian noblemen raised him.

That's why, at 3 pm, he managed to sign a renting contract to the town realtors, using his part of his extreme (but hidden) fortune to pay in advance two years worth of renting a small cottage at the top of a cliff, far from the nearest inhabited Storybrooke house.

Half an hour later, he had gathered all his belongings and put them in his car. Fidget drove up a small road through the woods until he drove past the last tree and arrived at the small, pale stoned cottage he had rented. Once he parked the car, he got out and placed his foot and peg leg onto the dull green grass, which hardly sent any sensation to his peg leg.

Fidget proceeded to grab one of the boxes from the trunk and began to make his way around the cottage until he could find the main entrance. And when he did, he found he wasn't alone. Some young woman was tending to a couple of flowers by the front steps, and seeing that she was planting purple lilacs, flowers that he treasured in his childhood, caused him to drop the box. The noise got the girl's attention and she got up when she saw the Batrishan.

"Are you the new resident?" she asked in a very friendly tone.

"Uh..." Fidget couldn't speak directly when he saw something more shocking than the lilacs: the woman. She physically looked familiar to him. Her long golden hair, along with one faint magenta streak, that reached her back, her green eyes that sparkled...why did they seem so much like déjà vu? He cut himself of his daze. "Yes, yes I am. I'm sorry I startled you. I was just...stunned by the lilacs."

The woman, who physically looked like she was around Fidget's 'physical age', glanced back at the lilacs before giving a smile. "They're pretty, aren't they? The Storybrooke town realtors love to have them planted in the gardens of available houses. I volunteer at least once a week to give a hand in the gardening."

Fidget picked up one of the lilacs and took a gentle sniff, letting the rich fragrance reach his nose. "I've forgotten how they smelled like," he said. "Purple ones were my favorite when I was a kid."

"Same for me. They remind me of this old poem about a nymph running away from a god who was captivated by her beauty."

" _Pan's Pursuit For Syringa_? That's one of my favorite classic poems."

"You know, _Dutchman's Teapot_ holds poetry lectures every Sundays. _Pan's Pursuit For Syringa_ is always included among the read poems."

Fidget gave an amused frown, which he didn't have in a while. "Is that you're way of asking me on a date?"

The young woman chuckled. "No, just ways of suggesting to hang out and befriend one another in case you feel like gray clouds are covering your environment."

Fidget grinned as he picked up his box. "Well let's hope gray clouds come soon, miss...?"

"Theresa. Theresa Rogers."

"Fitzgerald Denada Cortés."

The End

Next, on ONCE UPON A TIME. Travel across worlds...

Rosetta: _The race through time you must take; To when the fate of balance must have begun!_

...And join a pilgrimage to a mysterious shrine.

Dwight the Tapiser: _The Canterbury Shrine, a place so magical that it was said to be able to solve any individual's problems._

Maurice the Clerk: _It should take us about a week or two to get there._

Fight a villain trying to get payback...

Midnight Sparkle: _Don't think this is over, Fitzgerald!_

...And uncover hidden truths.

Rosetta: _You...you...are..._

Tristan the Squire: _A Batrishan, that I am._

The Evil One: _And as the Fates predicted:_ _ **the race through time will be at stake; and soon shall rise the Evil One!**_

Follow the adventure, when ONCE UPON A TIME meets THE CANTERBURY TALES, in RACE THROUGH TIME, and follow the spin-off series retelling the history of Fidget the Bat in FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS.


End file.
